


Mental Link

by CrossingTheFourthWall



Series: Mental Connections [1]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Gen, I'm Very New to this fandom, I'm keeping Sephiroth sane for this, Mental Link, Telepathy, hopefully the characters don't end up too weird for you guys, second fic in this fandom and I'm making an AU, this'll be fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:08:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 44
Words: 162,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24575845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrossingTheFourthWall/pseuds/CrossingTheFourthWall
Summary: Hojo's meddling with two SOLDIERs has resulted in a strange little connection between Second Class Zack Fair and First Class Sephiroth. Learning to adapt to it while also dealing with events around them results in some rather drastic changes, and a timeline wrenched from its original, intended destiny.If Hojo was expecting anything from his experimentation, it won't be what he unknowingly made Zack and Sephiroth into.
Series: Mental Connections [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1853272
Comments: 388
Kudos: 237





	1. Headaches

**Author's Note:**

> ...soooo, when I came across some gameplay from the remake on YouTube, I did not expect my interest in the game to eventually escalate to this. I had a vision pop into my head and went "you know what, that could be either really fun or really disastrous. Let's make it fun."
> 
> Which has led me to investigate the timeline before the original game in order to properly build up this AU.
> 
> It all starts right before Crisis Core and everything escalates (or spirals away from the original games, your pick) from there. All I can say at this point is that I hope I do the story and the characters justice.

When it came to Shinra, there wasn’t much that Zack felt he personally needed to know about. He joined the “electric power company” because of the SOLDIER program, because he wanted to become a hero like the famous trio of Firsts, and specifically General Sephiroth. He didn’t question the needles when he got elevated to Second Class too much, either, especially when they were supposed to make his ability to absorb and harness mako that much easier.

Although, the headaches that had been bothering him recently weren’t exactly making _sparring_ easier _._

A longsword moved past his face, clipping a few wayward strands of black hair that flew away from the spiky mass on Zack’s head. The presence of the standard-issue Shinra weapon quickly snapped the headache into a dull, but ignorable static that buzzed at the back of his head as he leapt away from his mentor’s chosen weapon.

“Your mind is elsewhere again.” Zack’s mentor, also dark-haired and with that giant Buster sword against his back, shifted out of his ready stance and frowned in disapproval. “You should know better than that, Zack.”

Zack ran a hand along the side of his head to check for potential damage. Thankfully, there were no cuts or further loss of his signature hairstyle, but that was just a reminder that his mentor had _noticed_ his distraction. “Sorry, Angeal. I’ve been getting these… _weird_ headaches lately. I won’t let them distract me again, I promise.”

Angeal frowned at his spiky-haired student. Zack could feel his teacher’s gaze pressing against him, but it wasn’t as needling as the presence that had been at the back of his head. Angeal couldn’t get _into_ Zack’s head. Not the way this feeling could.

“Have you talked to the medics about this?” Angeal frowned. “If these headaches give you trouble in missions—”

“They haven’t,” Zack assured quickly. Maybe a little too quickly, because Angeal was frowning even more now. “I swear, it – it’s just been happening since I got called up for more mako treatments. Maybe it’s because of that? Did you get headaches and stuff after getting treatments when you got promoted?”

“No.” Angeal was frowning, now. He looked like a puzzle had been suddenly set in front of him and he didn’t like the look of it.

If Angeal hadn’t gotten headaches, maybe mako reacted differently to everybody? But he didn’t _get_ headaches when he got the initial treatments….

Angeal sighed and rested his hands on his hips. “Clearly, this is going to affect your training. I’m taking you to the medics to get some answers.”

The thought of cutting off his training shocked Zack out of his train of thought. “An _geal!_ I’m _fine!_ I can keep going!”

The way Angeal was frowning at Zack _clearly_ said he thought otherwise.

“Angeal, _please._ I’m okay, I promise. Can’t we just…finish the spar? Before you take me anywhere? _Please?_ I think I almost had you this time!”

Angeal almost looked like he was going to whack Zack over the head and drag him off to the medics himself. Zack did his best to give Angeal his most pleading expression, wide eyes and everything.

As Zack hoped, Angeal sighed heavily and shook his head. “All right. But if you are distracted again, we are going to go and get some answers.”

“I won’t, don’t worry!”

They set back into the spar, all fists and standard-issue swords. Angeal wasn’t using the giant slab of metal on his back, but Zack assumed that was because he didn’t want to kill his apprentice. It looked like it could pack a wallop, even with the Second Class enhancements he’d been getting.

When it came to levels of mako exposure and who could be exposed to what, Shinra really didn’t mess around. It made Zack eager to rise to the class of First, even if that probably wasn’t going to be for a long while yet. He needed to prove himself to Angeal and everyone else further above him, too, like Director Lazard.

Maybe he’d get a chance to get into the war in Wutai?

The dull static at the back of his head increased slightly. Zack hid his wince in a rolling dodge to get away from the standard-issue sword Angeal was using. He fought back against the static, blocking it from his awareness as best he could as he lunged forward with his sword again.

The _hope_ had been to catch Angeal off guard, but his mentor saw Zack coming and side-stepped his pupil without so much as a flinch.

“You are not making it easy.” Zack swung around on one foot and went in for another strike, but Angeal caught the blade with his own. The sting of metal against metal rang through the room.

“That is the idea. Your opponents are not going to ‘make it easy’ for you, especially if you’re a Second.” Angeal smiled slightly as Zack bounced back, then ran forward again.

They continued this for a while, with Angeal blocking Zack’s attacks and moving around the training room. He never gave Zack any openings, which was as frustrating as it was exciting. It just meant that Zack had to think on the fly, which was what training was _for._

_Maybe if I—_

Unfortunately, right as Zack was swinging around from behind Angeal to hit him in the side, the dull static in his head spiked into a pain that felt like someone had jammed a sword into his skull.

Zack’s sword dropped from his hands as they shot up to his head. He _barely_ noticed Angeal move towards him before his eyes screwed shut in response to the pain.

It felt like there was something trying to _get in._ What the hell?

Even the realization of that was difficult with the pain in his skull, but then the spike in his head felt more like there was something wriggling its way inside – something strong.

_“Zack! Zack!”_

Angeal’s voice was muffled, probably because Zack’s hands were over his ears, but also because the only thing running through his head right now was _painpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpain—_

And then, nothing.

**\----------------------------------**

Angeal grabbed Zack around his waist as Zack collapsed to his knees, screaming and gripping his head. It looked like Zack was about to squeeze his own head like a grape.

“Zack! Zack!”

Zack kept screaming; he hadn’t heard him.

Angeal swore under his breath. The puppy was in pain and he couldn’t do anything except get the kid to the medics and pray to whatever goddess it was Genesis liked going on about for an answer. Or, at least, some hope that Zack was all right _despite_ this.

“Hang on, Zack,” Angeal muttered. He reached forward to adjust his grip on the boy, only to freeze when Zack stopped screaming abruptly.

For a moment, Angeal thought the attack had passed, but when Zack went completely limp and Angeal had to adjust to his pupil’s full weight that he realized something else had happened.

“Well, this will make getting you to the medics easier,” Angeal muttered. “But to pass out from the pain….”

It wasn’t a good sign, if a SOLDIER could pass out from a headache. They were meant to be able to withstand more than a normal person, which came with its own myriad of problems. Apparently, for Zack, it was headaches.

They were going to need to find a way around this, if they were going to be able to do anything about training him beyond Second. Otherwise he would likely be demoted back to Third, and that would do nothing for Zack’s self-esteem.

Getting Zack on his back with the Buster Sword present was difficult, but not impossible. He’d had to carry SOLDIERs off the battlefield before, and while he wasn’t currently in danger of being cut down by an enemy, there was a sense of hurry to his step as he carried Zack out of the training hall and towards the medic station on the floor, in case of some injury that might occur while training.

The medics were _very_ startled when Angeal of all people showed up.

“S-sir! What do you—”

“Zack collapsed during training,” Angeal said. “He was complaining of headaches before it happened.”

“Bring him over here!” One of the medics motioned towards one of the empty beds. Angeal obliged him, turning around so that Zack could slide off his back. He hadn’t been in a position to get accidentally cut by the Buster sword, thankfully, but there was still an expression of faint pain on the puppy’s face.

“You said he was complaining of headaches?” The medic checked his bracer before flicking it, summoning the magic of the two yellow spheres that rested there. Sense and Assess were as important on the field of battle as they were here. You could pick up any amount of information from the beings and areas that you focused on, so long as you had the magic aptitude for it, although some would consider using both at once overkill. Apparently, this medic thought using both was wise.

“It caused him trouble today during our spar, yes.” Angeal stood out of the way as the medic did his work. “He said they’ve been giving him trouble since he started receiving additional mako treatments.”

SOLDIERs were usually given mako _only_ when they were promoted in rank. Zack had been a second for some time, so why was he being given more _now?_

“What’s his name again?” A young woman hovered near a computer terminal, looking between it and their newest patient.

“Zack Fair.”

The woman nodded and set to the terminal. “Let me see…has he complained of headaches before this?”

“Not that I’m aware of. This is also the first time he’s collapsed without taking any visible damage during a spar or training of any kind.”

Angeal had been expecting questions like this, considering that he was Zack’s mentor and the boy was technically under him in the chain of command.

“He seems to think they’re because of the enhancements,” Angeal added. “I find that doubtful, otherwise he wouldn’t have made it past Third if he reacted this way.”

“We would have had records of that before he started the treatments,” the medic with the materia agreed. The yellow magic had settled over his eyes and made him look like he was wearing a pair of strange, mismatched glasses. “There’s something centered on his head, but I can’t get a fix on _what_ it is, exactly. It seems to be a build-up of energy, but I can’t tell what kind or what it could have resulted from.”

“I can’t access his medical records.” The woman at the terminal spoke up.

“What?” The other medic looked up as Angeal frowned.

“That shouldn’t be possible.” Angeal moved towards the terminal to have a look for himself. “He’s just a Second, he should be accessible for you.”

“It’s been blocked by someone higher in the science department.” The woman looked at him with a worried expression. “We can’t see anything about the enhancements he’s been receiving.”

 _“What?”_ Angeal looked between the terminal and his unconscious pupil, who still looked like he was in pain. The medic with the materia was still hovering over his head, looking more concerned with each passing second. “What reason would they have to do that?”

The only others who had most of their data locked away were the Firsts, but that was only because Sephiroth was Hojo’s pet science experiment – as loathe as they were to think about that – and they had a keen interest in making sure his friends stayed alive, for the sake of mental stability. Why would _Zack_ get this treatment now?

Was it because Angeal had taken an interest in him and taken him on? When he, Genesis, and Sephiroth hadn’t taken an interest in potential pupils before?

“We’re as clueless as you are, sir,” the medic at the terminal spoke up. She frowned. “Maybe they did something different with his treatments from the other SOLDIERs?”

“If they did, I assume there would be sign of that,” Angeal replied. _“And_ that he would have made someone aware of it. He has all the bouncy eagerness of a puppy, it would have been difficult for him to keep anything completely secret.”

His eyes narrowed as he considered the _other_ option – that this had been done without Zack’s knowledge, much less his _permission._

Angeal wouldn’t put it past the scientists to do something like that, but he wished they wouldn’t step all over _his_ pupil in order to do it. The boy didn’t deserve that kind of attention from them. He liked Shinra and SOLDIER, to be sure, but being pulled into an experiment _without his permission_ might change his mood drastically.

Hopefully, it wouldn’t. Zack put a lot of thought into his honor as a member of SOLDIER, mostly thanks to Angeal hammering it home. If a scientist had taken an interest in him, it’s far more likely they got his permission for what he assumed were extra enhancements, to get him closer to his dream.

“We’ll need to keep him here to keep an eye on him, and let the head of the science department know about what’s going on,” the medic with the materia said. He flicked his wrists, deactivating the Sense and Assess, and turned to his partner at the terminal. “Who is it that locked down his medical records?”

The woman was staring at the screen intensely enough that she didn’t answer. She jumped when Angeal cleared his throat. “H-huh?”

“Who locked down his records?” Angeal repeated the other medic’s question.

“O-oh! Um….” The woman looked back at the terminal, uncertain. “It was…Professor Hojo, sir.”

 _That_ just brought up even more questions that Angeal wasn’t sure he wanted the answers to. He remembered the way Sephiroth shut himself away or demanded a spar to take his mind off the things Hojo liked doing in his labs. Hojo liked working with Sephiroth far too much, and if he had his eye set on _Zack_ now as well—

…something at the back of Angeal’s mind said that this did not bode well.

“Do what you can for him,” Angeal said.

“What do you think we are, rookies?” The man with the materia motioned for Angeal to leave the infirmary. “We’ll make sure you know if there’s any change, I promise you. We don’t need you to mother hen over him any more than you want to.”

A flicker of a smile passed over Angeal’s face for a moment, and then he was out of the infirmary with a final glance at Zack’s direction.

Zack didn’t move as Angeal stepped out of the room, but the echoes of pain were still on the young SOLDIER’s face. That alone was enough to make Angeal make up his mind.

Or, it would have made him make up his mind, had he not bumped into someone else in the hall.

“What is the rush, old friend?”

Angeal blinked for a moment, recognizing the red hair of his friend. “What are you doing here, Genesis?”

“’My friend, the fates are cruel.’ I was looking for Sephiroth, but it seems that I have stumbled across you instead. You haven’t seen him, have you?”

Angeal frowned. “I haven’t, and I was about to go looking for him myself.”

“Truly?” Genesis clicked his tongue in disapproval. _“’_ Infinite in mystery’….whenever Sephiroth needs to be found he makes himself scarce! He wasn’t in his office, which I find _quite_ odd.” He tilted his head. “What reason do _you_ have for finding him, exactly?”

Angeal glanced at the infirmary for a moment, then sighed heavily and shook his head. “Something’s happened to Zack, and I have a feeling that Sephiroth might have more pull on getting answers than I will.”

“Did the puppy get hurt?”

“I think the scientists may have done something…more, in the additional enhancements that Zack has been given.”

Genesis frowned. “Angeal, I should hope you are not going to speak ill will of the very people who have granted us the abilities we have as SOLDIERs! Where would you be without the strength to lift your honor, hmm?”

Angeal didn’t need to ask what Genesis meant. “Hojo has blocked access to Zack’s medical records. As he just collapsed after complaining from headaches, I have reason to believe _something_ happened involving Hojo.”

“Ah.”

Genesis’ tone of voice said exactly what he thought of _that._

“What would that man want with your puppy, I wonder?” Genesis tapped his chin in thought. “It wouldn’t be his boundless energy and his eager pep, would it?”

“I doubt it. He would have gotten his attention when he was a _Third_ if that’s the case.”

“Fair point. Perhaps it is a gift from the Goddess?”

Angeal gave Genesis a withering look, but Genesis didn’t seem bothered in the least by the glare. “I wouldn’t call it a gift if my pupil collapsed from the pain of a headache. I have a feeling that Sephiroth will have more clout with Hojo in order to get us answers, but we will need to _find_ him if we are going to get any of the information that I am looking for.”

“Ah.” Now Genesis seemed to be getting what Angeal was so worried about. “And Hojo is keeping the medics from knowing, you say? That _is_ quite cruel. Let us go search for Sephiroth together, then. Perhaps he is in the archives and is buried in books again. He may have returned there when I wasn’t looking.”

Angeal sighed heavily. “I hope you’re right.”

It didn’t take them long to go up from the SOLDIER floors to the archives, where the mayor of Midgar had been sequestered away in some back closet. President Shinra clearly didn’t think much of the man, considering that the company did more to run the city than _he_ did, but that wasn’t something that Angeal or Genesis were interested in at the moment. They _worked_ for Shinra, they didn’t _really_ need to think about anything beyond the missions or themselves.

Or, in Angeal’s case, about his pupil.

“If he isn’t here, and he isn’t in the training simulator, it’s likely he is with Hojo, or hiding away somewhere,” Angeal muttered. “I am _never_ going to get any answers at this rate.”

“’My friend, the fates are cruel.’” Genesis sighed.

Genesis’ choice of words made Angeal pause in front of one of the stacks and raise a brow at his friend. “Why are you looking for him anyway, Genesis? Don’t tell me you’re looking to spar with him _again.”_

Genesis paused at the question. “That…ah. No, no, hardly that.”

“Then why?”

“They’re intent on sending me off to Wutai. I was wondering if we could have a chance to…well, spend some time together, before I leave in a few days. _You_ have always been far more easy to find, what with the puppy always at your heels. I had assumed that I would be able to find Sephiroth first, this time. Quite foolish of me, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Apparently.” Angeal’s expression darkened, Zack’s current condition settling back into his mind.

But then there was Genesis, as well. That last spar had been….

Genesis clapped Angeal on the shoulder, forcing him out of his thoughts. “Do not worry yourself. I have no doubt that ‘a gift from the goddess’ will solve the puppy’s problems soon enough, hm? Perhaps he will awaken from this and never have to worry about headaches of any sort ever again.”

Angeal knew Genesis was only trying to make him feel better, but he couldn’t help but sigh and shake his head in response. “I…I suppose.”

“Come! Let us go and find our friend, before he completely vanishes from the building! ‘My friend, do you fly away now?’”

“LOVELESS, Act 3?”

Angeal turned sharply at the voice, startled at the sudden intrusion into his and Genesis’ conversation. “Sephiroth!”

Sure enough, there was their silver-haired friend, walking towards them that usual calm air about him. The younger, less experienced SOLDIERs took his countenance as an intimidation factor, but that was more a result of his constant training than it was anything else.

Sephiroth had been raised by Shinra for the sake of the SOLDIER program, after all. It would make sense that he would walk around with the air of such an experienced warrior.

“’There is no hate, only joy, for you are beloved by the goddess’!” Genesis threw his arms forward in delight. “Where did you fly to, my friend? We were just searching you out!”

“Apologies. I was…called away for another of Hojo’s experiments.” Sephiroth’s face twisted at the mention of the scientist, but the expression lasted for only a moment. He’d come to dislike the poking and prodding that Hojo was known for, Angeal knew, but it was something that he did not often confide in others about. “I was looking for some peace and quiet in order to recover from the ordeal.”

Angeal eyed his friend for a long moment. Sephiroth’s green, slit-pupil eyes seemed unfocused. It was an unnerving look to see on his face. Was he still thinking about Hojo?

“Of course, of course.” Genesis nodded. It seemed his want for some time spent together was going to have to wait, if Sephiroth needed time alone. “Nothing too pressing this time, I hope?”

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Sephiroth confirmed. He noticed Angeal staring and frowned. “Nor you, Angeal. I’m fine.”

Angeal blinked sharply at Sephiroth’s change in focus, and shook his head slightly. “R-right. Sorry.”

“He’s just worried because the puppy collapsed from a headache,” Genesis offered.

“He what?” Sephiroth frowned.

Angeal shook his head. “It’s not something that’s happened before, but Zack mentioned he’s been having headaches frequently after a round of mako treatments because of his promotion. This is the first time the headaches have become enough of a nuisance that they…interfered, with his training. Zack is currently unconscious in the infirmary, but his medical records seem to be locked by Hojo. The medics weren’t able to see if there were any recent changes.”

Sephiroth said nothing. Angeal and Genesis waited, both knowing that it would take Sephiroth a while to turn over the information in his mind and come to his own conclusions. It would take longer than normal because of Hojo’s recent experiments, no doubt.

“…I see,” Sephiroth said after a moment. “You haven’t thought to speak to Hojo yourself?”

“Do you _really_ think he is going to be that intent on listening to us?” Genesis replied. “The man has a mind for data, not for people. He would make for a terrible producer, much less an _actor_.”

“…point taken.” Sephiroth sighed. A hand drifted to the side of his head and pressed against his temple with a slight wince.

“You are having headaches as well?” Angeal asked.

Sephiroth closed his eyes and breathed deeply. “A minor side-effect, and my reason for wanting some peace and quiet.” He let his hand drop from its position against his head. “If you two will excuse me.”

They let Sephiroth move past them and into some quiet corner of the archives. Considering that very few people ever really came here, much less made noise, it made sense that he would retreat here for a while.

“And off he flies,” Genesis muttered. “I suppose I shall have to wait for another day. Hopefully _before_ I have to leave.” He huffed.

Angeal, however, stared after his friend with a slight frown on his face. “First Zack, now Sephiroth….”

“You don’t think they’re connected, do you?”

Angeal noticed the sly look that Genesis was giving him, but he didn’t give Genesis the benefit of turning to face him. “I don’t know for certain. But with Zack’s medical records locked and Sephiroth also apparently suffering from headaches…it feels at the very least like a coincidence.”

“If only we could find out more, hm?”

Now Angeal turned to look at him. “What are you planning, exactly? You know as well as I do that Hojo isn’t just going to talk about the details of whatever it is he’s _doing.”_

“Oh, I am more than aware, my friend. Why else do you think Sephiroth has been so tight-lipped about it?” Genesis smiled slyly. “I suggest we wait until your puppy wakes up and see what happens if we get the two of them in the same room. What do you think?”

“…I think Zack would die of an over-active heart attack at meeting Sephiroth.” He was hyper enough on his own; it would make sense that meeting Sephiroth would only make him _more_ hyper.

Genesis clicked his tongue. “He’s been around long enough; I doubt he would have _that_ sort of a reaction.” He waved a hand at Angeal. “Go on, shoo. Look after your puppy. I’ll find something else to do while we wait for Sephiroth to recover from whatever Hojo decided to pound into his head. Does that sound good to you? Or you can find something else to keep yourself busy, but that’s up to you.” He shrugged at Angeal, then turned and walked away.

Angeal could see Genesis pulling out that well-worn book of his and sighed. He shook his head, then turned and walked back towards the elevator.

Standing here worrying about Zack wasn’t going to get him anywhere. He was in good hands, as far as Angeal knew, but Genesis was right. He was going to have to keep himself busy until Zack woke up and recovered from…whatever it is that had just afflicted him.

Hopefully, it was nothing serious.


	2. Suspicious Coincidence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I promised to a commenter last week, my updates are weekly and unless life happens to get in the way, they are going to stay that way. (The last weekend in June might be a potential "skip" week, but I'll have to wait and see on that one)
> 
> Also, if anyone's wondering, Aerith shows up in chapter 15, because I'm taking the Crisis Core plot and seeing where I can upend it. I want to see these characters *develop* damnit, and if that means watching a walkthrough of a game I never owned then so be it. Apologies if I don't do the tale justice, but I need some setup for that day in Nibelheim, so I'm kinda rushing to get there as fast as possible.
> 
> In the meantime, the characters certainly aren't in a rush to get there.

Zack was still out of commission the next day, but Angeal had other things to do to keep him busy. Paperwork and a quick mission involving hunting monsters in the slums that looked strangely like a science experiment – which only made him think more about Zack and what Hojo might want with him – were quickly swept out of the way. It didn’t take him long to find himself back in the archives, stalking the floor in search of Sephiroth or Genesis, if the latter was planning to sit and read until he left for any missions of his own.

If Sephiroth was still recovering from what Hojo had done, Angeal would leave him alone and make sure that Genesis was still doing all right. That wound in his shoulder from their spar was worrisome, but Genesis was still acting like it was nothing.

Hopefully, it _was_ nothing.

“Angeal.”

Angeal turned his head at the calm voice and caught sight of Sephiroth looking up at him from a table. The stack of books near him was almost as tall as Sephiroth when he was standing.

“Feeling better?” Angeal guessed. He walked over and sat next to Sephiroth.

“For the moment.” Sephiroth set the book aside, frowning. “Zack is still troubling you?”

“He hasn’t woken since he collapsed yesterday.” Angeal had stopped by the infirmary to check, but the medics had shooed him out before he had a chance to start asking too many questions. “He no longer appears to be in _pain,_ but that could mean anything.”

“And you think Hojo has something to do with it.”

“Potentially.” Angeal side-eyed his friend. “I’m aware you have at least some dislike for him.”

“The man created me as I am; I have much to thank him for.”

“And you also have much to _dislike_ him for. There is no honor in experiments that are meant to bring you pain for the sake of testing your pain threshold, Sephiroth.”

Sephiroth’s mouth twitched a smile for the briefest of moments. “Yes, there is that.” He settled into his usual neutral expression. “And Genesis?”

“He also thinks that Hojo has something to do with it, but I doubt he’ll be able to look into it himself.” Angeal paused. “They’re still planning on sending him out to Wutai, despite….”

Sephiroth frowned, no doubt remembering the fight in the simulator that had brought on the wound in the first place. “Nothing can be done to convince them otherwise?”

“Apparently not.” Angeal sighed. “I wish they would wait _until_ we had answers, but those haven’t been forthcoming.”

It didn’t take much to see the worry on Sephiroth’s face, but to anyone other than his friends, Sephiroth hid it well. It had taken quite some time to be able to decipher every twitch of muscle, the way his eyes would move elsewhere for a fraction of a second. The fact that he kept himself subdued in that manner made Sephiroth an interesting puzzle to decipher, much like how Genesis loved deciphering LOVELESS.

“And now Zack is giving you trouble as well,” Sephiroth remarked.

“Unfortunately.” Angeal rested a hand against his forehead. It almost felt like _he_ was developing a headache, but he’d felt stress like this before. It would pass. “The best I can consider is that his second class enhancements were different this time, somehow. But what sort of difference that could _be,_ I don’t know.”

“I can see how that would worry you.” Sephiroth looked like he was about to continue, but then he winced slightly.

Angeal noticed. “Still feeling those side-effects?”

“Unfortunately.” Sephiroth frowned at the bookshelf on the far side of the study space, rather than at Angeal.

“If you wish to be left alone, I—”

“No.”

Angeal blinked in surprise, then sat back in the chair he’d been rising from. “Do you just want my company, or do you wish to speak about something?”

Sephiroth shook his head slightly. “I am…unsure.”

That was a surprise. “You? Unsure of something?” Angeal frowned. “Just what are you going through, Sephiroth? You know you can trust me.”

Sephiroth visibly hesitated at Angeal’s words. That was a bit of a surprise. Sephiroth was normally quite good at keeping his emotions to himself.

“If you don’t know what’s going on, I would be more than willing to help,” Angeal said. “You haven’t been wounded like—”

“No.” There was Sephiroth’s guarded expression again. “I have not. Whatever is afflicting him is…somewhat different from myself.”

Angeal looked hard at his friend. “Did Hojo do something to your head?”

Sephiroth hesitated again. He glanced at the book he had been reading. “There are…some SOLIDERs, who have exhibited psychic abilities. Hojo seems to think he can force such an ability onto myself.”

Angeal straightened. “He pushed your mental capabilities to the point of headaches.”

“Yes.”

“On the same day that _Zack_ collapsed from headaches during training.”

Sephiroth paused, then nodded slightly.

Angeal did not want to follow the path that he was seeing, but he could guess at what it meant. After all, Hojo was not exactly known for being honorable to any degree with the people he interacted with. “You have reason to suspect they are connected?”

“Potentially.” Sephiroth paused. “Zack may be developing something similar.”

“What? But – how? Why?”

“Hojo has mentioned to me that he thinks certain SOLDIERs will eventually become capable of doing great things with their minds as much as they can with the rest of their enhanced bodies. It would make sense that our minds would be affected by the mako as much as the rest of us.”

“… _we’ve_ been exposed to mako for longer than Zack has. Why him? Why now? And why did it knock him out?”

Sephiroth shook his head. Apparently, he was just as much in the dark as Angeal was.

Angeal sighed and shook his head. “I suppose at this point in time, it is simply a matter of waiting to see what comes of this.”

“Unfortunately,” Sephiroth agreed. His expression flickered for a moment, making Angeal frown.

“How long do you expect these headaches to last for?”

“I don’t know. At this point in time, I can only hope they will not interfere with anything that I am expected to do in the future.”

“Like with Zack.” Angeal frowned. “If the headaches persist after this one attack, I may _have_ to go to Hojo to find some answers. As it is, I’m not inclined to do so. There is a likely chance he did this without warning Zack that something would change.”

“Considering that we are meant to be loyal to the company, it would make sense that a warning and a choice would be required,” Sephiroth agreed. “It would do them no good if one of us was experimented on unknowingly. If we came into that knowledge, there is a chance that we would leave the company, and then they would be forced to mitigate the damage.”

“Which means that Zack likely had some knowledge of what he’s getting into, and he isn’t telling me.” Angeal frowned. “Or, he was never informed and will likely think what is happening to him is normal.”

Sephiroth raised a brow at Angeal. “You truly suspect the science department of foul play.”

“It seems likely to _me._ If Hojo has managed to sneak something past everyone else….” Angeal trailed off. He shook his head. “What am I talking about. I should focus on Zack for now, and make sure that he is still fighting fit. Getting him to sit for meditation techniques to clear his head and block the pain should help, but getting him to _sit still_ will be nigh impossible. He’s as restless and energetic as a puppy. I can’t imagine what he would be like if he let him reach First.”

“And yet you continue to mentor him,” Sephiroth pointed out.

“I do.” Angeal nodded slightly.

“Why?”

Angeal considered Sephiroth’s question. “He…made an impression, as a Third. That much energy in someone so young suggests an eagerness that not many SOLDIERs have for their missions. Offering myself as a mentor allowed his strength to gain a focus in honor as well as what he was already intent on. So long as I can _keep_ him focused on his dreams, then he should become a fine SOLDIER, whether or not he reaches First.”

“Hm.” Sephiroth tilted his head, considering that. “You suspected he could be a loose cannon when he initially joined.”

“Genesis did,” Angeal corrected.

“He is the one who voiced what you were potentially thinking.” Sephiroth paused. “If he had been allowed to spend time with that one SOLDIER, I assume that he might have become one.”

Angeal did not need to ask to know who Sephiroth was alluding to. “I don’t know _who_ is training Roche, but I have half a mind to suggest that he be pulled out of the SOLDIER program entirely and sent away to race motorcycles somewhere.”

“And the other half?”

“Have him stay under lock and key because he already _has_ mako in his system, and we can’t let someone like _that_ wander around freely. It would _not_ be honorable.”

Sephiroth laughed quietly. “Roche would have made a more terrible influence on him than your pupil is on himself, I assume.”

“I consider myself lucky that I keep Zack busy enough that he cannot assist Kunsel in putting together minor pranks to scare the infantry and set up conspiracy theories that Kunsel _delights_ in tracking,” Angeal muttered. He put his head in his hands. “The only reason that I know this is because Zack has _told_ me about some of the rumors that Kunsel has encouraged in the Thirds and in the infantry. For his own _amusement._ I see no honor in doing such things.”

“Perhaps not,” Sephiroth agreed. “But as you have said, Zack _is_ highly energetic. He would need to find ways to use his energy when you cannot get to training him, or taking him on missions.”

“Or when he isn’t sleeping,” Angeal groused. His annoyance faded as he thought of his pupil, currently unconscious because of something he didn’t have any answers for. He sighed heavily and shook his head. “When Zack awakens from this, I will make sure that he is not going to push himself to the point of headaches again.”

“A wise decision,” Sephiroth agreed. “Are you going to inform him of your suspicions?”

“About Hojo?” Angeal’s expression twisted slightly. “We don’t have any proof that he did anything different from the normal enhancements, and I am not about to put you through the wringer in order to discover what exactly that is. You deal with _him_ enough as it is, Sephiroth.”

Sephiroth nodded. “Your concern for me is appreciated, Angeal.”

Angeal’s expression flickered slightly. “I’m sure Genesis would be concerned as well, in his own way. If he were here for this conversation.”

“He has not left for Wutai yet.”

“No, but I’m sure that he is preparing, in his own way. I’ll see if I can find him, later, if you want to talk with him.”

“I’ve had enough LOVELESS pounded into my head for a lifetime, Angeal. I don’t need _more_ of his lecturing on the subject.”

“True that.” Angeal snorted in amusement, but that dropped back into a frown.

Sephiroth watched hm, expression shifting slightly again. Was that…was that _worry_ on his face?

It was gone before Angeal could make sense of it.

Angeal sighed, deciding to ignore the micro-emotion he’d seen on his friend’s face. “I want him to be all right, if only for the sake of his dreams. He won’t be able to accomplish anything if he has troubles with things like this.”

“I am sure that answers will come in time,” Sephiroth offered. “We will simply have to wait until that time comes.”

“…I suppose so.”

Angeal and Sephiroth probably would have sat there, left to their own thoughts, had someone not draped himself across their shoulders and dropped his head between the two of them.

“’All that awaits you is a somber morrow’ if you continue to mope like that,” Genesis teased as Angeal jumped from the sudden intrusion. “Don’t tell me that puppy is on your minds _again._ He is a resilient little thing. I doubt that ‘nothing shall forestall’ _his_ ‘return.’”

“Genesis!” Angeal yelped.

“What? You know that I have a fair point about Zack Fair.” Genesis grinned. “His boundless energy will not keep him down for as long as you think it will.” He looked at Sephiroth. “And _your_ quietness will let anything that affects you bleed out of your head before I have a chance to say a word of the prologue.”

“If this is your idea of attempting to make us feel better—”

“Oh, is that what you think it is?” Genesis was still grinning.

“ _Genesis.”_ The emotional inflection in Sephiroth’s voice was surprising.

“All right, all right.” Genesis moved around the table and sat down at the chair across from them. He eyed the giant stack of books that Sephiroth had apparently pulled off the shelves. “Intending to read until the tower falls, Sephiroth? You know I could—”

“I’m not interested in reading LOVELESS _again,”_ Sephiroth replied. He frowned at Genesis’ shoulder for a moment before shaking his head slightly. “Why did you seek us out this time?”

“Oh, just some rumors.”

“Rumors?” Angeal frowned. “Don’t tell me you talked to that Kunsel boy again about spreading conspiracy theories.”

“Is that what you think? You wound me, Angeal. I am not the kind of person to encourage such things.”

Sephiroth rested folded hands on the table. “But you do take delight in watching people’s reactions to them.”

“It’s like a drama play.” Genesis motioned with one hand. “It’s not as good as any LOVELESS play, obviously, but it still makes for great entertainment.” He chuckled. “’Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess.’ I am certainly not going to stop something that clearly helps Kunsel pass the time.”

Angeal and Sephiroth exchanged looks.

“You should meet Kunsel some time, Sephiroth,” Genesis remarked. “The boy is quite devious. I’m surprised they haven’t attempted to make him into a Turk, with everything he knows.”

“I’m fine not knowing him, Genesis,” Sephiroth replied evenly. “I don’t need to know what you have created for fun in a rumor mill.”

“Suit yourself.” Genesis started to shrug, and barely managed to hide a wince.

Angeal shifted, ready to leap out of his chair. “Genesis—”

“I’m _fine,_ Angeal.” Genesis sent him a withering look. “You don’t need to worry about me when you have that puppy of yours to be worried about. I assume he hasn’t been deemed recovered from that little attack yesterday?”

Angeal shook his head. “No. He hasn’t.”

“Hm.” Genesis leaned back. “And no answers as to whether it was Hojo’s doing for some experiment, I assume.” He sent Sephiroth a pointed look.

Sephiroth’s face was a mask. “If he is up to anything, I doubt that he will so readily tell me. Or you.”

“Well, taking Angeal’s puppy is quite rude of him. I have half a mind to go up there and ask him myself, but Hollander likely wouldn’t appreciate it too much.” Genesis shook his head.

“He still hasn’t….” Angeal trailed off.

“No, which is quite frustrating. For a man who holds all the cards, he isn’t letting any of them show.” Genesis sighed dramatically and leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling.

“The rumors?” Sephiroth prodded.

“Oh!” Genesis went upright again. “Hojo is apparently planning something for the next incoming ‘generation’ of SOLDIERs. Something to enhance them further and make them more efficient, so the story goes. He seems intent on testing something to that effect, first.”

“And how would you know about this?” Angeal frowned.

“The same way that I get my entertainment, of course.” Genesis shrugged the shoulder that hadn’t been injured in his spar with Sephiroth. “Whether or not it is _true_ is up to the hearer to find out, is it not?"

“Which only makes them less credible,” Angeal pointed out with a frown. “And upcoming SOLDIERs are always being made into improved versions of what came before. I wouldn’t call this news ‘new’ by any means.”

“Hm.” Genesis’ eyes flicked to look at Sephiroth for a moment. “I wonder.”

Before Angeal had a chance to ask what _that_ meant, Genesis was back on his feet again. “Well, I’ll leave you two to brood. I have other places to be that are much better _without_ the storm clouds that hang over your heads. However, ‘nothing shall forestall my return.’”

Angeal watched Genesis walk away with his usual confident stride, then looked at Sephiroth. The other’s face was guarded again, unable to be read by the most experienced of those who knew Sephiroth well, and Angeal thought for a moment he could pick out a flicker of something.

Then it was gone.


	3. Connection Established

It took another day before the medics called Angeal to say that Zack had woken up, which sent him scrambling to the infirmary to reach his pupil and make sure he was still fighting fit despite the headaches.

He did remember to rein himself in as he approached the infirmary, at least, so that he wouldn’t look like he was stumbling over his own feet in his hurry to see Zack. While he was concerned for his pupil, he didn’t want to look like a complete mess in front of either Zack _or_ anyone else who might happen to be nearby. He was a First, and one known for his own honor above all else. He had a reputation to uphold, sure, but he wouldn’t look very _honorable_ scrambling to check on his pupil like a panicking mother chocobo.

Angeal pushed the thought out of his head with a slight scowl. That would have been _very_ undignified.

“Sir!” The young man with the materia was standing just inside the infirmary, almost like he’d been expecting Angeal’s arrival. Considering he’d been the one to call the SOLDIER, he no doubt had been.

“How is he?” Angeal stepped inside, looking for Zack.

“He’s still suffering from a minor headache, but at the very least he’s conscious. He said it feels like someone’s fingers are at the back of his head and probing his mind. A strange description of a headache if I’ve ever heard one.”

“Hm.” Angeal looked past the medic and saw Zack sitting on one of the beds, rubbing at his temples with a look of slightly pained frustration. The woman from two days ago was with him, watching with a concerned expression of her own.

“We also doublechecked his records, and we’ve confirmed that he didn’t have any issues with the Third Class-level enhancements,” the medic added. “The fact that he claims to be getting these headaches because of his Second Class ones is more than a little odd.”

That _was_ strange, and confirmed his suspicions from two days ago. However, Angeal kept this grim thought to himself, frowning as he approached Zack. He didn’t want the medics to know about his suspicions, when he had no proof. Making baseless assumptions was not honorable. “The next time your body reacts like that, we are stopping training until it passes. I am not about to push you more than you can handle.”

Zack looked up sharply, only to wince. Likely the headache spiking in response to the movement. “Angeal, I-I’m fine, I swear. I’m not gonna let something like a headache stop me from doing anything.” He smiled and laughed, but the sound was shaky and not quite as energetic as it usually was. It was an unnerving, to say the least.

“You were unconscious for two days, Zack,” Angeal replied. Beating around the bush wasn’t going to do them any good. “This was more than just ‘a headache.’”

Zack frowned. Then he what Angeal had said, as his eyes went wide a moment later. “Wait – _two days?_ That can’t be right!”

“Unfortunately, it is.” Angeal’s eyes narrowed. “Do you have any idea why that could be?”

“Other than the enhancements?” Zack frowned in confusion, then shook his head. “I don’t…I don’t know.”

“It’s likely that the scientists did something different with your enhancements,” the woman medic spoke up. Angeal got the feeling that he should make it a point to learn their names, especially if Zack found himself in here again. “What exactly those differences _are,_ we don’t have any information on.”

Zack’s head whipped around at the woman’s explanation, and he winced as the headache followed his movement. “But…then what’s going on?”

“Clearly, something the science department is intent on keeping under wraps.” Angeal’s eyes narrowed. They knew that much at least, since Zack’s records were sealed after a certain point. “We will work around it, for now. But that means we will need to work around your headaches when it comes to training. I’ll have a talk with Lazard about keeping you off missions for now, until we are certain you _aren’t_ going to have an attack in the middle of one.”

“But Angeal—”

“ _Zack.”_

Angeal’s disapproving frown quieted Zack, but that didn’t mean he agreed with his mentor. The pout on Zack’s face spoke volumes for how he was feeling at the moment.

“That would be wise,” the medic with materia agreed. “I’d also suggest taking it easy on the training for now. We don’t know what set off the headaches, so you’ll need to work around the potential triggers that may come up as you go along.”

Angeal could see the logic in that, so he nodded in agreement. So long as these weren’t migraines caused by the weather or some other factor, they could potentially work Zack back to being mission-fit.

“Glad to see we’re on the same page.” The medic with materia sighed in relief. “All right. I’ll discharge Zack into your care, sir. But if he has problems again, make sure to bring him back immediately. We can’t afford to have anyone have any problems, when we’re still in the middle of that war with Wutai.”

“Mm.” Angeal nodded in agreement. “Zack.”

“Coming, coming….”

Zack pushed himself off the bed and joined Angeal as his mentor walked out into the hallway. Angeal made it a point to watch him, and how his hand kept trying to reach for his head before Zack stopped himself and forced his hand back to his side.

Zack was attempting to make himself look fine when the exact opposite was likely true.

“There is no honor in hiding pain from me, Zack,” Angeal told him. “Especially when it can get in the way of our normal routine.”

Zack almost jumped. “S-sorry. I just – I _know_ I’m stronger than this. I didn’t get headaches before.”

“Did you notice if they did anything differently with your enhancements?” Angeal didn’t want to think about what the medic had said about something being done differently. It made him think of what Genesis had mentioned yesterday, about what Hojo was potentially up to.

Considering his _source_ and the sorts of things Kunsel and Zack did, was there any merit in believing such things? Angeal doubted it, but there was also the chance for truth there, as cautious as he was to consider it.

“I…I don’t think so.” Zack rubbed the back of his neck, frowning. “They gave me booster shots to make sure the mako would stick and my immune system wouldn’t react badly to it, but I remember getting those last time, too.”

“Considering you already have mako in your system, I doubt that you truly needed another set of boosters.” Angeal frowned. “You have confirmed for them that you don’t need further enhancing there. Any increased strength you _might_ need would come from only the mako.”

They were almost to the training room he used with Zack; the Seconds and Thirds usually knew to steer clear of the area, or else they would become target practice for Zack’s sword or materia drills. That wasn’t always a _bad_ thing, but they’d quickly learned that Angeal pushed harder than their instructors, and that made Zack’s magic _sting_ in ways everyone else’s didn’t yet.

“You think so?” Zack frowned. “Then…why did they give me more of the stuff? I should be able to handle it; it’s not like I need more of it every time I’m ready for more—gnh!”

Angeal turned sharply as Zack winced suddenly. Clearly, his headache had become much more pronounced than it had been a moment ago, since Zack was gripping his head with one hand.

“Zack.” He reached over and pulled Zack to one side of the hall, next to the door to their preferred training space. The boy collapsed on his knees, eyes screwed shut as the headache hit him hard. “Deep breaths. We won’t be able to get anywhere today if this happens frequently.”

He was _definitely_ going to have to ask Sephiroth if he knew if Hojo was up to something. Scientist and the reason for SOLDIER’s existence Hojo may be, but that didn’t mean he garnered any love or adoration. Fear, and certainly anger, were much more common.

While Angeal normally kept himself distant from such things, seeing Zack suffering through a headache potentially brought on by the very thing that Hojo was doing in order to make SOLDIERs stronger made him wonder if he should cement his own opinion of the man more forcefully.

Zack took a few moments to breathe deeply, and eventually his hand dropped from his head. “S-sorry. That one…it—” He looked up at Angeal. “It’s like someone’s digging their fingers into my brain or something.”

“That…is very specific.” And very unlike any sort of headache that Angeal had ever heard of.

“Yeah, well –” Zack winced. “It’s not pleasant, that’s for sure. Kinda wish it’d just _go away_ so that I could get back to training. I want to get to First, not stay stuck at Second forever.”

“You cannot rush something like this,” Angeal chided. “Healing takes time, as do other things.” He paused. “I may have to talk to Lazard about giving you leave, instead of just a break from missions.”

“Don’t! I want to figure out a way to work past this!” Zack glared up at Angeal. “How can I be a hero if something as simple as a headache stops me like this?”

“I wouldn’t exactly call this headache _simple,_ Zack. Especially if it feels like there’s someone’s hand inside your skull.” Angeal crouched next to his pupil. “Were you given anything for the pain?”

“Yeah, I think.” Zack was rubbing at his temples again.

“Then the best you can do is attempt to block the pain from your mind.”

Zack’s expression screwed up into a frown at Angeal’s suggestion. “You mean like…meditating? I gotta clear my head?”

“It’s good to see that you remembered _something_ from our initial lessons.” A grin flickered across Angeal’s face for a moment. Zack’s memory had good focus, especially when combined with his eagerness to reach his dream.

“But I want to be able to _do_ something, not just sit and think about my breathing.” Zack frowned. His hands twitched, no doubt thinking about reaching for a sword. He was very attached to bladed weapons.

“There are other ways to meditate,” Angeal offered. “Or did you think the drills I put you through only had _one_ reason for existing?”

“Huh?” Zack blinked a couple times. It took him some time to actually put Angeal’s words together, but when he managed it, his expression brightened _immediately._ “Oh. _Oh!”_

“Go in there and practice your sword forms,” Angeal said, nodding to the training room. “Focus on the movements of the blade and your breathing _while_ blocking out the headache. It will help.”

“Yeah, sure! I can definitely do that!” Zack leapt to his feet, all energy now. “Not as good as an actual spar or a mission, though.”

“That will come later, when I know you are not going to have any trouble with your headaches.” Angeal sent her a pointed look.

Zack got the message. “I’m going, I’m going.” He practically ran into the training room and grabbed his sword. Angeal followed after him and closed the door behind them, then stood with his back to the door and his arms folded.

Zack settled into a familiar stance, holding the blade in both hands in front of him. Angeal appreciated the look of focus on his pupil’s face as he started to go through the motions he’d been taught, swinging his blade in different directions. Having a familiar warm-up to get used to the blade after being away for even a little while was a good thing, especially when focusing on the sword was far easier than thinking about whatever headache Zack might be having. And besides, exercises like these helped stretch muscles and worked just as well as any workout Angeal might put Zack through in the virtual simulations.

Angeal didn’t notice that there was anything wrong until Zack’s stance shifted, and his sword was up next to his head at the start of a round of movements, rather than held in front of him.

Angeal stiffened. That pose—

Zack started to move, his face showing nothing but focus as he moved through a _completely different_ series of sword forms than the one Angeal had taught him, or the one Zack had been developing on his own. This one was clearly designed for a sword that was far longer than Zack’s longsword, and he kept stopping and correcting himself with a soft frown that was far too unnerving to see on Zack’s face.

It reminded him of long, silver hair, of friendly spars and missions where one of his friends would hold his sword up by his head before leaping forward and spearing it into whatever monster they’d been tasked with hunting for the day.

Angeal stepped away from the door and further into the room as Zack corrected his stance again with that slight hint of frustration. “Zack.”

Zack started going through the motions again. It was almost like he hadn’t heard Angeal.

“Zack.” Angeal raised his voice as he stepped forward again.

Now Zack noticed. He jolted slightly and looked over at Angeal. “Huh?”

“Where did you learn that?” Angeal motioned to Zack’s stance – he was back at the starting position, sword held up next to his head like he was ready to spear it forward.

Zack blinked, then frowned. “Uh…” He relaxed out of the stance and looked down at his sword. “I don’t…huh. I don’t know. It kinda just…slid in, I guess.”

“Slid in?” Angeal repeated. “Zack, you don’t just _copy_ someone else’s fighting style like that. Have you _ever_ seen Sephiroth use his sword?”

Zack jolted. “Seen – no! I haven’t even been able to _meet_ him! What makes you think I’ve ever seen him fight?”

“You were using his movements just a moment ago,” Angeal replied. “You _knew_ his fighting style like you were used to fighting with a longer blade.”

“I…what?” Zack blinked in confusion. “How? Angeal, like I said, I haven’t met him, and I haven’t seen him fight _at all,_ either. The news only ever shows him standing around, not using his sword. Not unless you find combat videos, but he moves too fast for the cameras.” He paused. “Am…am I reading his mind or something?”

“SOLDIERs aren’t supposed to be capable of doing things like that,” Angeal replied. He paused. If Zack thought that, then… “How is your head feeling?”

“My head?” Zack frowned at the question and tilted his head. “Um…well, it doesn’t _hurt_ anymore, but it still kinda feels like there’s something _there._ ”

“Does it still feel like there is a hand gripping your mind?” Angeal frowned.

Zack shook his head. “Nah, not really. More like there’s a…a presence, I guess? It’s kinda like I know someone’s in the room but they really aren’t. Or something.”

“How specific of you.”

Zack frowned at Angeal. “I’d like to see _you_ come up with an explanation for this.”

Angeal kept his expression calm, but his mind was racing. Sephiroth had exhibited signs of headaches since Zack’s collapse, and now Zack was somehow capable of mimicking Sephiroth’s own fighting style?

There was something here, and he didn’t like where it was leading.

“Let’s put our training on hold.”

“What?! Angeal, I was just getting warmed up! How could—”

“Just _humor_ me _,_ Zack.” Angeal opened the door and motioned for Zack to follow him.

Zack tilted his head at Angeal, but he obliged and followed him to the elevator, where Angeal immediately hit the button for the archives floor.

“Can you tell me what this is about, Angeal?” Zack asked, frowning. “I mean…you’re not gonna leave me hanging until we get where we’re going, are you?”

Angeal didn’t want to tell his pupil what was going through his head right at that moment, but if they were going to investigate it, then Zack was going to learn sooner or later.

“I have suspicion that Hojo is using you for an experiment,” Angeal said evenly. “Potentially something to…improve on what he’s already created with the SOLDIER program.”

“He – what? Really?” Zack looked surprised, but then he frowned. “But…wouldn’t he have asked? I-I mean – I don’t remember being _told_ anything like that….” He shifted from one foot to the other as the elevator came to a stop. “I thought what I was going through was normal.”

“It was _supposed_ to be,” Angeal confirmed. “But something changed.” He strode out of the elevator, Zack following on his heels.

“What are we doing _here?”_ Zack frowned at all the books.

“Looking for someone who might have some answers.”

“That doesn’t tell me anything….”

Angeal ignored him as he walked past the bookshelves, scanning for silver hair and black leather coat. He didn’t know how long it was going to take to find Sephiroth, but in the meantime… “Zack, can you sense where the presence is coming _from?_ ”

“Not really….it feels closer up here? I think?” Zack shrugged. “This is the first time I’ve dealt with something like this; I don’t know what to do with it.”

_You and me both._

Angeal was about to turn and move deeper into one of the areas when he caught sight of a flash of silver hair at one of the nearby study tables. The same one he’d seen Sephiroth at yesterday, in fact. “Ah-ha.” He started towards the reading figure, Zack trailing after him.

“Wait – that’s –” Zack barely managed to hold back what sounded like a squeal. “Is that _Sephiroth??_ THE Sephiroth?”

Angeal didn’t need to look at his pupil to know that Zack was in puppy mode again, almost vibrating from the prospect of meeting the man who had become the SOLDIER General because of the war in Wutai. Sephiroth probably would have still _been_ there, in fact, were it not for him getting called back.

Genesis would be leaving soon to take that spot, intent on becoming the hero of the war.

Sephiroth didn’t look up from his book as they approached, Zack still bouncing excitedly even as Angeal sent him pointed looks in an attempt to calm him down and make him keep his high energy in check.

“Sephiroth,” Angeal greeted as they stopped at the other side of the table.

“Angeal.” Sephiroth didn’t look up, but there was _something_ in his voice that wasn’t normally there. Was that excitement? Couldn’t have been, since Sephiroth kept emotions like that on a tight leash.

Zack didn’t say anything. Angeal assumed he was being polite, or at the very least attempting to keep himself from blurting something. When Angeal looked at his pupil, however, he frowned.

Zack was frowning at Sephiroth, head tilted like a confused puppy’s. He wasn’t bouncing from high energy, which was odd enough on its own, but there was something about his eyes that made Angeal frown deeper.

Zack’s mako blue eyes were _turning green._

Angeal looked back at Sephiroth, who still hadn’t looked up from his book. “Zack mimicked your fighting style in the training room, _without having seen you._ Do you have an explanation for that?”

Sephiroth paused in the middle of turning a page, and he looked up slightly. Was it Angeal’s imagination, or were Sephiroth’s eyes picking up the slightest blue tint?

Sephiroth eyes drifted over Angeal and settled on Zack. Zack stiffened in response.

What followed had to be one of the more unnerving experiences Angeal had seen to date, and that was saying something.

He found himself looking between the two of them as Zack’s and Sephiroth’s faces went through a myriad of expressions, showing more on Zack than they did on Sephiroth. Surprise first, but then a grim sort of expression that left Sephiroth frowning deeply as Zack’s usual, energetic expression faded back into something much more subdued.

The entire time, their eyes remained a blue-green mix, and Angeal was left to his own thoughts.

All that confirmed for him, however, was what he’d been suspecting already.

Hojo had done _something_ to his pupil, and Sephiroth was involved, whether his friend had wanted to be or not. Were they test subjects for Hojo’s experiment involving future SOLDIERs? Was that what was happening here?

He was loyal to SOLDIER, he _knew_ that, but he was loyal to his friends as well. The thought left him conflicted, and uncertain.

Couple that with Genesis being sent out into the field soon without any sign of his shoulder healing, and it made him wonder for the briefest of moments about—

 _No._ He shook the thought out of his head. He had a duty to uphold here.

Angeal cleared his throat, causing Zack to jump and Sephiroth’s face to pause on a thoughtful expression. “If you two wouldn’t mind including me in your _conversation._ ” He looked between the two of them as Zack stared at him, bewildered. “I assume that you were just doing _something_ on a telepathic level?”

Sephiroth recovered first. “So it would seem.”

“That’s…whoa.” Zack put a hand to his head, but he didn’t look like he was in pain. “This is _weird._ And…and you think— _know,_ Professor Hojo did this?”

“It is the most logical conclusion, although why he would choose _you_ is beyond my current comprehension,” Sephiroth replied evenly.

“Maybe he thought I was just awesome enough to warrant getting an upgrade?” Zack grinned, but it wasn’t a full smile.

“Hm.” Sephiroth closed his book and set it aside. “Apologies, Angeal, but it seems that you will have something more to work on in future training sessions with Zack.”

“I hope you mean blocking you out of his head,” Angeal replied.

“Exactly.”

“Aw, _what?”_ Zack frowned. “Then what’s the point in _that_ if you wanna keep me out?”

“You have no reason to be poking around in my head at this point in time, and neither do I to you.” Sephiroth shook his head. “We cannot afford to have our mental states affecting each other, as we are in different classes and take different missions. We do not have a current need for this. It would be better if we both work to block this connection.”

“But—”

Zack cut himself off with a strange expression that looked like he’d just been told his best friend had kicked a puppy. He shook his head slightly, rubbing the side of his head with his hands. “I…yeah. Okay. Sure.”

Angeal frowned. There was something going on that they were not telling him.

“I hope you don’t intend to keep secrets from me,” Angeal said. “Lying by omission isn’t exactly _honorable,_ Zack.”

“O-of course not!” Zack yelped. “But sometimes we gotta do it, right? To protect people from getting hurt?”

“I am not saying that we should halt this connection completely,” Sephiroth said evenly. “I am simply suggesting we…prevent the possibility of our two minds becoming more connected than the human mind is capable of handling. We may be enhanced, but that does not mean we can completely merge our minds into one.”

Zack nodded. “Y-yeah.”

“We can look into using this later, if it is required, but we currently have no need to.”

Ah, so that was it. They were both concerned about what could happen _because_ of the newfound connection. At least _Sephiroth_ was using his head and analyzing the situation, but that sort of behavior was likely expected of him by now.

Angeal eyed them both. “You had better hope that I do not regret whatever it is you two might be planning in the future. If I find out you’ve done something dishonorable, Zack—”

“No worries there!” Zack brought up his hands in a defensive measure. Like pushing Angeal away from him was going to do him any good. A First against a Second wasn’t going to end well for the Second, especially since Angeal knew how to fight with his fists as much as a blade. “I don’t intend to go against SOLDIER or anything you’ve taught me, Angeal.”

“Hm.” Sephiroth went back to his book. “Do not let Genesis hear of this, or anyone else, either.”

“It’ll be our secret; got it!” Zack gave Sephiroth a thumbs-up and a grin.

Angeal almost shook his head. Had Zack been anyone else, or _not_ evidently connected to Sephiroth somehow, the boy would have stood at attention and saluted instead.

“Come on, you.” Angeal grabbed Zack’s arm and dragged him back to the elevator. “Time we went back to some _proper_ training.”

“Really?” Zack’s hyper energy was back, and his eagerness for something to do was definitely where it was supposed to be as a result.

“Really. But I _expect_ you to keep focused on what we’re doing and not on what you _think_ Sephiroth is doing. Starting with training yourself to keep him _out_ of your head.”

“Can’t we do that while I’m doing something awesome?”

“And risk you getting distracted? I think not.”

Zack’s bright, hopeful expression was fading fast. “Not meditation _again._ Angeal—”

“It will help.” Angeal stepped into the elevator with Zack and hit the button for the training level. “Clearing your mind will help you locate the foreign presence and block it out. Training you to do so now will make it easier when you go on missions later.”

And, hopefully, it would mean that Zack would instinctively block Sephiroth and life would continue as normal. Which would, of course, mean that Hojo _wouldn’t_ get the data he was looking for.

That would certainly be one way to stick it to the scientist who thought he could experiment freely on Angeal’s pupil and his friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we go! Now we've got two somewhat-telepathic SOLDIERs running around. Sephiroth's going to have to learn quickly to block out Zack's chatter. XD Speaking of, all chapters from here on in will default to Zack as the POV character, so we will get to hear what's going through their heads!
> 
> In other news, normally I try to post new chapters on Fridays, but next week I'm going to try to get chapter 4 up on Tuesday, because my end-of-the-week is going to be swamped with stuff that'll keep me away from the computer. I won't fall behind on posting chapters for a while, though -- I've got enough written that I could stop writing and wait until mid-September before I started again. Aah, buffers. Gotta love 'em. (I'm gonna keep writing, though!)


	4. Laying the Mental Groundwork

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE EARLY UPDATE!  
> I'm gonna be busy Doing Stuff for the rest of the week, so I probably can't post this on Friday like I normally do. So, I'm posting this early!
> 
> If I can post something later this week anyway, or maybe again next Tuesday, I will in order to help us adjust back to my usual "once-a-week-on-Friday" schedule. Or maybe I can adjust us to twice a week instead -- I have the chapters for it, for now. Let me know what you guys think on that, cause otherwise I'm going to keep posting once a week.

Zack was starting to get used to the near-constant presence at the back of his head. After a week, he really was _only_ starting, because Sephiroth’s pressure was a little uncomfortable, but at least it wasn’t _painful._ Normal human minds weren’t supposed to be connected like this, after all, but even when they tried to block each other off, they were still aware of each other. It was just another weird quirk to get used to.

The fact that Sephiroth _didn’t_ give him headaches on purpose made it easier to focus on what Angeal was trying to teach him, including how to _ignore_ that presence. On the other hand, meditation still made him agitated and jumpy. Sitting still for _that_ long was _not_ something he could do.

“Don’t lose your focus, Zack.”

“I know, I know!” Zack jumped over the monster and speared down into its back; it sputtered and collapsed before dissolving into some pixelated green motes as the next rat-looking thing came at him. Monsters dissolved that way in the real world when they died; it made sense that the simulator would have the same thing happen. “When you say things like that it makes me _think_ about it, so _don’t!”_

“Then don’t make me have to say it,” Angeal called back.

The simulation was on top of some rocky plateau outside of Midgar this time. Angeal was standing behind Zack, near the edge, and about where the simulator’s exit was. He wasn’t about to let Zack out until he failed or succeeded, and Zack wasn’t planning on asking for a break anytime soon, either. He had to prove himself worthy of his current class _and_ that he deserved First, after all, and he wasn’t about to let something like a pesky mental connection get in the way.

Sephiroth sent over a brief sense of approval at Zack’s train of thought, then sealed up his half of the connection again. Zack _also_ picked up that Sephiroth was focusing on something himself – something about reports that needed filing and upcoming public events – but he didn’t pay much attention to that. The doomrats he was lunging at required his attention.

Despite their size, these ugly, mutated giant rats weren’t that big of a problem when dealing with one or two. Zack had fought against bigger monsters than these on a couple missions already. He danced forward and back, avoiding lunging bites and reaching claws that he batted back with his standard-issue longsword. He liked working with it – long reach, a bit of heft – but a part of him wanted something _heavier,_ something _bigger._ A regular longsword was _okay,_ but it wasn’t _enough._

He considered for a moment trying out Sephiroth’s sword forms, but decided against it. That was meant for a blade twice as long as he was tall, and so thin Zack probably could have snapped it like a twig if he’d brought it down over his knee. But Sephiroth’s sword couldn’t be _that_ brittle, not with the way he waved it around.

Zack swung at the next doomrat, leaning away as it lunged at him before he slashed along its side. Digitized guts splattered everywhere before dissipating in pixelated, artificial lifestream fashion. The next went in much the same fashion, and the next.

“This is way too easy, Ang—”

And then five of them came at him at once.

“Whoa!”

Zack tried to jump back to avoid getting slashed in the face, but all the good that did him was getting almost dogpiled as they slashed at his chest and stomach. One went for the legs, and he was just barely able to jump out of the way before it could send him tumbling. He was _not_ intent on getting dogpiled today, no way. And _especially_ not by digital versions of the real deal.

Kunsel would never leave him alone about it when he found out. If Zack didn’t do well, he’d probably be considered the source of another rumor: _Don’t make the Firsts mad or they’ll send a horde of doomrats after you for “training.”_

He could feel his frustration building as the doomrats kept trying to push him towards the cliff’s edge – in reality the wall of the simulator – in an attempt to corner him and keep him from doing anything other than defending himself. He slashed at two and bit back a cry of pain as a third sank its teeth into his leg. They were tag-teaming him, getting smarter. That definitely wasn’t a good thing.

Zack adjusted his grip and lunged in among the five of them, sword swinging this way and that. He had to push past his body’s current limit to move faster than the doomrats, but he wasn’t able to completely avoid their claws. They got caught on the fabric of his uniform, tore into his arms as they attempted to slow him down. All in vain – his anger was guiding his sword, fast and quick, slicing off claws and whiskers and heads.

Zack only realized he’d completely finished them off a few seconds after he’d stopped, standing among the pixelating carnage as he fought to catch his breath.

“Good. But you shouldn’t throw yourself into the line of danger with reckless abandon.” Angeal stepped forward, a green sphere in his bracer glinting as the magic within was released. Zack only felt a mild itching as the cuts from the doomrats stitched themselves back together, leaving not even scars behind. “You won’t be able to do anyone any good if you are unable to fight back while surrounded.”

“Is this why you keep sending me against low-level monsters?” Zack frowned.

“A part of it. You know SOLDIERs are often sent to the slums to take care of the monster infestations. There is no sense in walking into a monster nest and being unprepared for what you could face.”

“I’d say I’m a bit overly prepared, to be honest.” Zack considered putting his sword against the magnet on his back, but decided against it. Angeal could throw something else at him in here. “Doomrats aren’t all _that_ big, and they don’t usually attack people in large numbers like that unless there’s a lot of wererat nests nearby. It’s like…one or two per nest, isn’t it?”

“And where did you hear that?” Angeal raised an eyebrow.

“There’s a couple Thirds who came up from the slums. I spent a lot of time with them before I got promoted to Second.” Zack shrugged. “They’re pretty cool guys, and they know a lot about the monsters that live down in the sectors, so I get advice from them sometimes. Or Kunsel gets it and he passes it along.”

Angeal frowned when Zack mentioned Kunsel, which made Zack frown in response.

“What, do you have something against Kunsel? He gets good intel.” Zack rested his sword against a shoulder, tilting his head away from the blade. “I mean, he’s usually pretty accurate about monster hunting.”

“And about running the rumor mill, apparently,” Angeal replied evenly.

Oh, so _that_ was the problem. “What, those? Kunsel said stuff like that’s been around for _ages._ We’re just making things more fun for the newbies so they learn not to, y’know, make anybody mad by accident. Like how the archives are haunted or saying that you don’t like LOVELESS will make fire rain from the heavens. Stuff like that.”

“…now I see why Genesis enjoys your antics.”

“He nearly hit one of Kunsel’s friends with Firaga, I don’t see why we can’t give them some form of warning so that it doesn’t happen again.” Zack shrugged. He grinned a moment later. “That, and it makes the ones who _do_ try quickly learn their lesson. And it gives whoever makes those giant stacks of books in the library a heads-up to disappear before they find him.”

 _That_ got a tickle of something at the back of his head. It made him frown for a moment, but then Sephiroth had sealed up his end again without so much as a word.

Not that he ever sent over words. After their first meeting in the library, it was mostly just emotions or random trails of thought or something similar. Maybe words only worked when they were able to see each other? Or was it something else?

“Zack, you’re spacing again.”

Zack jolted. Angeal was frowning at him, arms folded in disapproval.

“I have half a mind to send a pack of Nibel wolves after you,” Angeal added. “Just to make sure you’re actually paying attention.”

“N-n-no wolves! I’ll pay attention, I promise!”

Angeal’s eyes narrowed, and he pulled out his phone.

Zack immediately grabbed his sword. When Angeal looked at him like _that,_ Zack knew it was gonna be bad news.

\-------

“You look like you just went to Wutai and had to crawl back.”

Zack groaned and dropped onto the couch. Seconds had a few lounges they could call their own, separate from the Thirds’, and this particular corner was starting to look more and more like the one place Zack wanted to be after training. “It may as well have been that bad.”

Kunsel shook his head. Why he decided to wear his helmet at all times, even when he wasn’t on missions, Zack had no clue. “You must’ve done something to make Angeal mad at you. What was it this time?”

“Does it _have_ to be something?”

“With him it usually is. From what you’ve told me, anyway.”

Nothing could get past Kunsel. “I wasn’t focusing as much as I should’ve, that’s all. So, he made sure that I was focusing for the rest of training.” He shrugged. “Nothing much else to it.”

“Huh.”

Zack waited for Kunsel to say something else, but when he didn’t, he turned to look at his friend. “What do you mean, ‘huh?’ You’ve got something on your mind, don’t you?”

Kunsel shifted on the couch.

“ _Kunsel._ Come on, you can tell me, buddy. We’re friends, right?”

“Only because you weaseled your way into one of my projects,” Kunsel replied evenly.

“Oh, is that what you’re calling it now?” Zack laughed, but Kunsel didn’t so much as hint at a smile. Which was odd, because jokes about what they called his “rumors” usually got a smirk out of him for a second or two.

Zack frowned. “Hey, what’s up? Is there something you wanna tell me, or…?”

Kunsel shifted away from Zack and fidgeted with his gloves.

“What?” Zack frowned. He felt something needle him in the back of his mind, but he shut it off and ignored it. His friend was a bit more important than whatever was going on with Sephiroth at the moment.

…man, that week where he’d just spent time forcing Sephiroth’s presence out of his head and vice versa was making this _much easier._

“If something happens with you, you’ll let me know, right?” Kunsel turned his head, no longer looking at his gloves.

Zack stared. “Where is this coming from?”

“Just – promise me.”

“Uh…sure? I mean, we’re both Seconds, we’re going to have to have each other’s backs on missions and stuff. What’s this all about, Kunsel?”

Kunsel’s shoulders pulled up a little in a tense sort of way, but then they dropped. “The science department is up to something with some of the other Seconds and Thirds – the newer ones. I’m not sure what’s going on with them, but…”

“But?” Zack raised an eyebrow.

“There’s been a lot more calls for tests, lately. I don’t think I’m going to get called up, since I’m pretty unremarkable, but since you caught Angeal’s eye….” Kunsel shrugged. “I can’t get enough information from my usual contacts to know for certain what’s going on, but be careful how much attention you get, all right?”

_Easier said than done, when the General can poke at my head._

The needling feeling happened again, and Zack pushed it back with a slight shake of his head.

“I’ll…keep that in mind, yeah.” Zack nodded. “You’re pretty serious about this.”

“Well, you’re my friend, right? Wouldn’t do our friendship any good if you ended up being turned into a monster because Hojo wanted to mess with you.”

“I dunno, I bet we’d be able to make it work.” Zack nudged Kunsel’s shoulder with a loose fist. “I could be your mount or something. There are some monsters that get to be pretty big.”

Kunsel snorted. “Maybe.” He shifted as a bell-like sound went off and pulled his PHS out of his pocket. “Looks like I’ve got to go. Mission coming up. You gonna be okay?”

“Yeah, course I am.” Zack grinned. “What do you take me for? It’s not like Angeal completely ran me into the ground, you know?”

“I think it’s impossible to do that to you.” Kunsel gave Zack a wry grin, then walked off with a wave back to Zack.

Zack waved back, and was about to get off the couch to find _something_ to do when the needling sensation came back with enough force that it almost made Zack bend over double.

“Gghk!”

_-Zack-_

_-owowowowowowowowow-_

_-Zack-_

Zack hissed through his teeth as the pain lessened to a more bearable level. He fell back on the couch, rubbing his head as Sephiroth’s presence curled in the back of his mind. _-The hell? I thought you said-- -_

_-I require your presence for something-_

It was still taking him a while to get used to the words that weren’t _really_ words, but had the _feeling_ of words. An insistence, this time.

 _-And you couldn’t call me on my PHS to get my attention?-_ Zack’s expression twisted into frustration. _-The hell you need me for, anyway? I just got done training with Angeal, if you’re planning on taking me for a mission with you--_

_-Nothing of that sort, I assure you. Come by my office; there is something I would like to…discuss, with you-_

Well, that didn’t sound ominous.

 _-Zack-_ Sephiroth’s voice came over as irritated. Whoops, he’d picked up on Zack’s thought without it being broadcast.

 _-All right, all right, I’m coming-_ Zack got off the couch and started to make his way to the elevator, rubbing his left temple. _-That **hurt** when you broke through, by the way-_

_-My apologies. But that means you have a good defense-_

_-Yeah, until you tear it down. Where’s your office again?-_

Zack followed Sephiroth’s directions up to the General’s office, his headache fading as he went. Sephiroth’s presence was still somewhat strong, but at least he wasn’t trying to press into Zack’s mind more than he had. It felt like there was a hand resting on his brain again, rather than a feather tickling the back of his head. Or something. Zack hadn’t really decided on _how_ to describe the connection yet. It was weird and unnerving and when he’d finally learned to almost block it off, he felt much better when it was just _him_ in his head.

Definitely said something about how some people wanted to figure out telepathy and stuff like that. How could they handle not being alone in their own heads anymore?

_-That is an adjustment we will have to make ourselves-_

Zack almost yelped as he reached for a door handle. _-Minerva on a pogo stick, don’t **do** that!-_

_-It will be impossible not to; not when we are this connected-_

Zack huffed and pulled the door open, then stepped into Sephiroth’s office as he closed the door behind him. Only to stare at the large stack of papers that was on Sephiroth’s desk. _-…what in-_

“Just because we are sent on missions does not mean we do not see paperwork, Zack,” Sephiroth said evenly. “You have to file reports of missions when you go on them, do you not? Where do you think they go afterwards?”

“I-I dunno, maybe….” Zack trailed off as Sephiroth motioned to a rather thick folder sitting on one of the piles. “Oh. Wait, do you get all the—”

“Not all of them, no. But when I am constantly called away for missions of my own, it becomes difficult to…” Sephiroth trailed off for a moment, then shook his head slightly. “That is not why I called you here.”

Zack rested a hand on his hip and frowned. “Well…okay. Why did you? I was about to go see if I could get back to doing missions. I haven’t collapsed from anything, so I bet Angeal wouldn’t stop me if I tried.” He grinned, hopeful at the thought of actually getting out of the building. “Training’s nice and all, but it’s not gonna do me any good if I don’t get out and _do_ anything, y’know?”

“I am aware of your…restlessness,” Sephiroth replied carefully. “That has been bleeding through consistently.”

“…oh.” Zack rubbed the back of his head, sheepish. “Whoops. Sorry about that. I thought I had a handle on it, honest.”

“You cannot expect that much improvement in a week’s time, Zack.”

“I guess not. Is that what you wanted me here for? To warn me about that?”

Sephiroth watched Zack for a long moment, then motioned for him to move away from the door and take a seat in the chair in front of his desk. “Hojo is…no doubt aware of our current mental states, as he has your medical records sealed and has been attempting to push my mental capacity. However, he has not made a move to bring us into his lab together in order to discover our limits. It is my intent to keep him in the dark for as long as possible.”

Zack dropped into the chair with no grace at all. “What, because he’s a crazy mad scientist and everybody’s scared of him in case he’ll turn them into actual monsters or something?”

Sephiroth frowned.

“Kunsel tells me about the rumors that go around sometimes. Apparently, Hollander is easier to deal with, but only a little.” Zack shrugged. “I’ve only ever met the assistants they keep around, so….”

The assistants who handled the mako injections when the scientists didn’t want to be hands-on themselves, at least. Zack had _seen_ Hojo from a distance, but had never really had too much of a chance to talk to them in person. He was starting to get the feeling that there was a reason why.

“…Kunsel was pretty worried today, come to think of it.” When Zack saw Sephiroth frown, he added quickly, “I-I mean, he said they were calling up some of the newer Seconds and Thirds for testing for something, but he doesn’t know what yet.”

“Hm.” Sephiroth inclined his head. “Are you certain this Kunsel is a Second Class?”

“Positive. He never takes the helmet off – like, _ever._ And he’s wearing the uniform all the time, too, like I do. Sure, he acts like a Turk sometimes with how he knows everything, but he’s never done anything with it other than let us know if there’s something up, like if the monsters in the slum sectors are a different kind than the last time, or if there’s been a change in the war. Things like that.”

Sephiroth frowned slightly, and Zack felt a gentle jab at the back of his mind. Sephiroth wasn’t exactly _subtle_ about asking for memories of Kunsel. Especially since Zack was suddenly caught up in –

_“—you from?”_

_“Me?” Kunsel gave a wry smile under his helmet. “Nowhere special. I heard there was a reactor out in Gongaga, is that true?”_

_“Yup. Just a reactor and nothing else.” Zack laughed. “But I like it. It’s home.”_

_“Heh. Yeah. So, why’d you want to get into SOLDIER?”_

_“What else? To be a hero! And you?”_

_“Well—”_

Zack found himself blinking rapidly as he was suddenly yanked out of the memory. There was a slight headache, but nothing unbearable. He shook his head and rubbed his forehead for a moment.

“And…you trust him,” Sephiroth said carefully.

“Mostly. I haven’t told him about…all this.” Zack motioned vaguely, and he hoped Sephiroth understood. “But he’s probably gonna find out something about it sooner or later.”

“I would prefer never,” Sephiroth said flatly.

“Yeah, I know, I know.” Zack huffed. “Do you want to do anything else, or do you just want to keep poking at my memories for the rest of the day? I had plans, y’know.”

“Yes, your…request to get back on missions.” Sephiroth’s expression shifted slightly. “I was hoping to discuss with you our options, should Hojo make an attempt at bringing us in together.” Sephiroth rested his elbows on his desk, just barely brushing against the pile of paperwork. How it managed to not fall over was probably a minor miracle. “Angeal cares for you greatly, and while _I_ am expected to be in the labs regularly, _you_ are not. It would not do you or Angeal any good if you were pulled away from missions or training at Hojo’s whim.”

“…he can do that?” Zack swallowed.

Sephiroth’s eyes narrowed slightly, and Zack got the feeling that he _had_ done that. More than once.

“Okay, that’s definitely bad news, but – what are we gonna do about it?” Zack scratched his head, frowning. “I mean…we can hide stuff from him, right? Like what we’re thinking and stuff?”

“As he cannot read our minds, I should assume that anything we mentally send to each other would be easily hidden, so long as you remember not to speak on them around people you do not trust.” Sephiroth paused. “Angeal told me our eyes change colors if we utilize the connection too much. It might be a permanent change by now, but Hojo may be more actively searching for such things as opposed to anything else.”

“Change colors?” Zack blinked. “What do you—”

He suddenly winced as he was presented with Sephiroth’s line of sight, looking at Zack. It was a blink-and-you-miss-it sort of moment.

“Your eyes have a hint of green around the pupils,” Sephiroth explained as Zack rubbed at his temples again. “Easily missed, unless you are someone who knows what to look for.”

“Ow…okay, I’m gonna have to get used to you doing that.” Zack shook his head. “So…what, your eyes are turning blue then, too?”

“Somewhat.”

“Huh.” Zack wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. “Neat.”

“Hm.” A flicker of a smile passed across Sephiroth’s face for a moment, but it was quickly schooled back into a neutral expression. “Training your mind to keep to itself, while also knowing where to look for information, should be something we continue on our own time. I will inform you when I am not…indisposed, in the near future, and we will continue working on that.”

“What, poking at each other’s minds?” Zack frowned. “But that’s…kinda a sacred place, isn’t it? Where you’ve got nothing but your own thoughts?”

_-That would be the case, but we are currently **sharing** such a space, are we not?-_

Zack winced. _-Touché-_

Sephiroth blinked, then shook his head slightly. “Testing how far apart from each other we can be before the connection fades would be wise. It is likely that it is something that can be strengthened with time and use.”

“So…what, you could know what I was thinking if I got leave to see my parents in Gongaga or something?”

“Or if one of us went on a long-distance mission,” Sephiroth replied. Always thinking of the job, right. “It would make use of technology near-obsolete, if we are able to communicate on a level that didn’t rely on communication towers.”

“…yeah, I kinda see your point with that.” Zack rubbed the back of his head. “Something about all this really bugs me, though. Why is Hojo deciding to do this? Is he thinking to turn all of SOLDIER into a hive mind or something? I dunno about you, but having _one_ extra voice in my head is more than enough, thanks.”

“In that, we are in agreement,” Sephiroth said. “Our best course of action for now would be to keep as much of our experience with this connection closed off from Hojo as possible. As useful as this ability might be, I have no doubt there will be repercussions. Humans are not meant to think on the same wavelength as each other; it would do more harm than good to force more into connections like this.”

“Glad we’re on the same page!” Zack grinned. “So, how are we gonna sabotage this?”

“Play along with what Hojo _expects.”_

“Huh?” Zack frowned.

Zack felt Sephiroth’s sigh as much as he heard it. “Hojo’s goals with this are unknown, currently. It would be best to play along for now, until we can gather more information on what it is he intends. Until then, we withhold information that he would likely consider useless to him and useful to us.”

“Like the whole memory thing you did just now?”

“That would be one example, yes. Keeping him behind on what our actual progress is will certainly assist us far better than if he knew everything immediately.”

“Gotcha!” Zack nodded, then paused. “Wait, but – you have to work with him, right? Kinda? Why are you so eager to keep this a secret?”

It had been something that had been bothering him on and off for the last week. Sephiroth was basically the “perfect” SOLIDER, right? Wouldn’t it make sense that he’d tell Hojo everything if he asked? Following orders _was_ expected of SOLDIERs, after all.

Sephiroth’s cat eyes suddenly looked less neutral and more like he was prepared to launch himself over his desk at Zack, pile of paperwork be damned. “ _You_ are not under Hojo’s jurisdiction, as much as he would like to think otherwise. Angeal made it clear that he wanted you protected, and I am doing my best to fulfill his request. Also, just because I am known for my _obedience_ does not mean I like _working_ with Hojo and his associates.”

Zack winced. Whoops, he let that one get read off his mind again. He had to get better at keeping some thoughts to himself.

“You really do.” Sephiroth leaned back in his chair and reached for one of his stacks of papers. “I believe our conversation is done for the day. I will send you a message for when I am next free, to ensure that we can improve on this connection _without_ supervision.” He gave Zack a pointed look.

“Y-yeah, sure.” Zack nodded. “I’ll keep my mouth shut. Promise.”

“See that you do.”

Zack slipped out of the office without another word and leaned against the wall. He let out a sigh and felt the tension drop from his shoulders.

“If even the General doesn’t like the guy, Hojo _has_ to be bad news.”


	5. Gee, Zack, why do you have two mentors?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks like I have a little time to post a chapter after all! A day later than my usual Friday update day, but hey, it's the weekend, and I'm still off doing my family thing. Close enough, for now.
> 
> Current plan for next week is to post two chapters on Tuesday/Friday again (because I've started writing chapter 21 -- I am VERY far ahead of you all in terms of plot). After that, either I'll keep up that pattern, or I'll stick with posting things once a week on Fridays. I'm still debating that.

Zack woke up to a needling feeling at the back of his head. He groaned and buried his head under the pillow. _-Come on, really?-_

_-Yes-_

_-It’s too eeeaaaarlllllyyyy-_

_-Would you be saying that if this was Angeal?-_

_-…yes?-_

Sephiroth’s mental tone of voice shifted slightly. _-Get out of bed, Puppy. We have training to do-_

It sounded like he was trying to mimic Angeal, but that seemed to do the trick.

Zack groaned and grumbled as he crawled out of bed at Sephiroth’s needling insistence. He squinted at the clock on the nightstand. _–‘ts an hour earlier than I usually get up-_

_-All the better. We have more time to test this connection, before your other duties call your attention-_

Zack grumbled back at Sephiroth with feelings of tiredness and a need to go back to _sleep,_ but he got into his uniform anyway and trudged out of his second-class SOLDIER apartment to go find where Sephiroth was waiting for him.

At least Sephiroth didn’t needle him _too_ much while he was grabbing a bite of breakfast, first. That helped him wake up a bit. Maybe Sephiroth saw some merit in letting Zack wake up _without_ feeling pins and needles in his head.

“You’re up early,” the cook in the cafeteria remarked. “I don’t think I’ve seen you up before dawn before.”

Zack blinked at her over the cup of coffee he’d grabbed. “Uh…just getting some personal training in.”

“Oh? What kind?”

Zack didn’t give her an answer, and just downed the coffee in one go and wiped his plate clean of half-decent eggs before leaving to go find Sephiroth. The less said about what they were probably going to be doing, the better.

Sephiroth’s presence waited for him in the same training room Zack sometimes used with Angeal for warm-ups and spars, when they weren’t using the simulator. Although, spars were more like some strange version of tag, where Zack was always it and wasn’t able to land that hit on Angeal to ‘tag’ him. Angeal was still too fast with his sword and on his feet, which only drove Zack to swing and move faster.

That had been the game they’d played right before Zack had collapsed, come to think of it.

“Your mind wanders a great deal in the morning,” Sephiroth said as Zack stepped into the training room. The General was sitting on one of the mats in a meditative position. “It is…interesting, to see how Angeal is improving your skills.”

Zack stiffened as he closed the door behind him. “You—”

“You don’t shield your thoughts when you are awoken at this hour,” Sephiroth said. “We will have to remedy that.”

Zack frowned. “I can’t focus on blocking stuff when I’m _sleeping_. Or waking up _._ ”

“All the more reason that you should train to do so subconsciously,” Sephiroth replied evenly. “Otherwise, your dreams will bleed into mine, and the same for the reverse if I do not manage such a thing as well.”

“What – really?” Zack sat down in front of Sephiroth, crossing his legs. “You need to work at it too? But you’re supposed to be the perfect SOLDIER, right? You don’t have to work _that_ hard to get something done right the first time.” He paused. “That’s what everyone _says_ , anyway.”

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. “I _appear_ to be perfect. I am sure that, if given the opportunity, others would be more than willing to point out my flaws.”

“If they can find ‘em. Not like you make them visible for everyone to see.”

Sephiroth didn’t so much as _twitch_ at Zack’s jab, and he had his mental barrier up in a solid wall that Zack couldn’t breach. If he found that even the slightest bit amusing, Zack wasn’t going to find out anytime soon. Or any time at all, probably.

“So, what, are we going to do more of the blocking thing again?” Zack frowned. “I can’t crack your wall no matter what I do, Sephiroth.”

“It would be counter-intuitive to train you to attack my mental blocks,” Sephiroth agreed. “However, I am still capable of breaking through yours on occasion. You are distracted easily by what happens in the world around you, and do not give your mind enough focus and attention.”

“Hey, I give my thoughts plenty of attention!”

That got a raised eyebrow from Sephiroth. “Do you?”

“Well, yeah! I have to think them all the time, don’t I?”

Sephiroth stared at Zack with a blank expression. Zack took his opportunity to take a mental shot at bumping down Sephiroth’s walls.

It was like slamming his head against a steel support that was twice as thick around as Angeal. _Ow._

That got the smallest hint of a smile from Sephiroth, but the look dropped a moment later. “A decent attempt, but not enough. You will have to try better than that if you want to widen the connection further without my agreement. Which is what these barriers are meant to _prevent.”_

“Yeah, yeah….” Zack rubbed the back of his head, frowning. He perked up a moment later. “Hey, have you tried—”

“The only one who seemed to have noticed my presence is _you,_ Zack. Other SOLDIERs do not respond whatsoever to any attempts at reaching them mentally.”

Zack’s shoulders dropped. “Oh.”

“It is likely that Hojo is using us as a test group, before bringing in more,” Sephiroth continued. “He wants to ensure that SOLDIER will be capable of handling changes like this.”

“From what I’ve gathered, he doesn’t really seem to like to take _anybody’s_ health into account.”

“Not unless it benefits him in some manner.”

“Great. I’m starting to see why Angeal doesn’t want me anywhere near him. I knew he was scary, but….”

Sephiroth shook his head slightly. Zack got the feeling that this was only the tip of the iceberg.

“Hojo is many things,” Sephiroth said. “I would not say that kindness is something he has _ever_ had.”

Zack felt something needle at the back of his head and pushed it away with a frown, making sure his mental defensive wall was solid. He saw Sephiroth’s eyes shift slightly, and that was his _only_ warning before Sephiroth’s presence came crashing down between his ears.

Zack got an instant headache as his barriers were – once again – smashed to pieces as Sephiroth looked for a way in. The shock of it left Zack reeling as his limbs locked in place and his mind rebelled against the intruder. Connected they may be, but a human mind wasn’t _supposed_ to be able to handle this kind of pressure.

Zack gritted his teeth and started pushing back, imagining a sword cutting through everything Sephiroth was throwing at him. If Sephiroth was going for sheer presence to throw him off, Zack was going to treat this attack as if he’d been suddenly ambushed by a behemoth, or maybe a group of Wutai soldiers like in the simulations that Angeal ran. He was _not_ about to lose.

If Sephiroth winced, Zack didn’t notice. He was too busy pushing back with as much mental force as he could.

The last few times he’d met with Sephiroth had been similar to this – they’d sit down and bounce attacks back and forth, getting their defenses up. If they wanted to be left alone or if they wanted to keep to themselves, keeping those walls that Sephiroth talked about so much was a good idea.

_-Enough-_

Sephiroth pulled back abruptly, and the mental gap he left behind made Zack almost roll forwards.

_-You…have a surprising amount of mental fortitude-_

Was that _amazement_ in Sephiroth’s voice?

Zack rested his head in one hand and shook his head slightly. It hurt, but not as much as it _could_ have. “I was never that good at using shields. I like swords a lot better.”

“As you have aptly demonstrated,” Sephiroth replied. He frowned. “However, you are going to need a proper shield, whether you like it or not, if only to prevent our dreams from bleeding through to each other. If this connection maintains itself across long distances, changes in time will become difficult to deal with.”

“You’re pretty good and blocking me out, though.”

“The _both_ of us knowing how to block will make it easier than if only one of us remembered to.” Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. “Having two walls of defense instead of one would be far more ideal. More defensible. And, if we are joined by others later who do not know the meaning of _privacy—”_

“I get it, I get it!” Zack held up his hands. “I’m not saying I should stop, I swear!”

“Good. Then prepare yourself again and make sure that you do better at defending this time.”

“And, what, not attack?”

A flicker of a smile crossed Sephiroth’s face. “Did I say that?”

Zack stared. “Uh…okay. Your funeral, I guess.” He gave a sheepish sort of smile and shrugged before sitting as straight as he can and mentally building his walls up as quickly as possible.

He barely had _any_ time before Sephiroth came down on him again.

\----

“You’re here early.” Angeal gave Zack an appraising look. “That eager for training?”

Zack rubbed his left temple and sighed heavily. “Sephiroth got me up early.”

“As he should, although if he wants to pick a time when you are more awake, I would prefer to coordinate schedules with him.” Angeal frowned.

“He wants me to get better at keeping _him_ out.” Zack frowned. “I mean, I _get_ it, keeping people out in general is better than not being able to at all, but we’ve been drilling this for a _while._ I wish he’d take a break and get us to work on something else or something.”

“He will likely shift his focus when he is sent to Wutai.”

“Huh?” Zack looked up sharply. “Sephiroth’s going to Wutai? When?”

“Soon, likely.” Angeal’s expression flickered with concern for a moment, but then he shook his head. “But that is none of your business, as a Second. We have more training to do, and I expect you to keep up.”

“And I will! Like I’m going to let what Sephiroth does with me stop me from reaching my dream!”

Angeal grinned. “Good.” He unsheathed his longsword. “Then let us begin. Are you prepared, Zack?”

“More than prepared!” Zack grabbed his sword and pointed it at Angeal. “Let’s see how well you can handle me this time!”

“I should be saying that about you, puppy.”

“Hey!” Zack scowled. “I’m not a puppy!”

“Then prove it!”

They clashed swords again, Zack running in straight on instead of dashing from one side to the other in an attempt to disorient Angeal. The First had a lot more experience, which meant that Zack would need something really new if he was going to catch Angeal off-guard.

Angeal caught Zack’s swing with his own, pushing Zack back a short distance. “A good first strike.”

“Not against you.” Zack went from two handed to one-handed and dashed to the side before coming in low. Angeal jumped away before he could so much as swing.

“No, but if you were going against someone who was your equal or weaker than you in strength, you would have more of an advantage.” Angeal parried away another strike from Zack as they continued moving around the training room. Angeal was taking the fight seriously from the look in his eyes, but he wasn’t putting as much strength into his blows as he could have.

A sudden flash of steel, and Zack barely managed to block the probing slash from Angeal. “So, what, you’re training me to take on a First?”

“I’m training you be capable of _being_ a First,” Angeal corrected. “Let’s see if you can knock me off my feet this time.”

And with that, the fight went from a light spar to something a bit more dangerous but no less life-threatening. Angeal pushed and defended in turn, giving Zack time to practice as many sword techniques as possible. Since Angeal had never been keen on other types of weapons, much less guns, it meant that Zack’s moveset had to be a large one in order to get around the sorts of weapons his opponents _could_ have.

Zack did not blame Angeal for the focus of their training. He didn’t want to experiment with anything other than swords, either. He just wished he could get his hands on a _heavier_ blade. Maybe one with a longer reach so he could use some of Sephiroth’s moves sometimes. _That_ would throw off a few people.

A sword lashed out with a song of steel, and someone’s feet were caught by the flat of a blade.

“Whoa!”

Zack’s flailing arms didn’t give him enough to regain his balance, and he fell on his back without a pained grunt.

“Your mind was wandering again.” Angeal pointed his longsword at Zack’s chest, then pulled back and held out a hand to help Zack up. “I thought Sephiroth was helping you with that.”

“He’s helping me learn to keep him _out,_ ” Zack muttered in reply. He took the offered hand and was pulled to his feet with minimal effort on Angeal’s part. Damn it, why did the Firsts have to be so much stronger in comparison to him? “Something about building barriers subconsciously? He’s been focusing on that a _lot_.”

“It would not be honorable to barge into someone’s private place uninvited,” Angeal remarked.

“Well, _yeah,_ but – you’d think we’d figure we can trust each other enough _not_ to do that, ya know? I don’t want to be anywhere _near_ Sephiroth’s head – when he comes in it’s just---”

Zack motioned around his head like something was there.

“A buzzing hive?” Angeal guessed.

“No. It’s…it’s more like just him _being_ nearby is a pressure on my head, like…like an intimidation factor or something. He’s figured out how to _pull back,_ but it’s still weird and I don’t like it.”

Angeal tilted his head and frowned at Zack’s description. “Did you ever consider that, perhaps, _your_ presence on his mind does not feel all that comfortable, either?”

Zack blinked.

“You are both used to being within your own minds, and not connected to someone else. It would be better if you built up that barrier to be able to _remember_ that, rather than let whatever is happening overtake the two of you. Otherwise, you would feel that presence all the time, instead of when you had to open up to each other.”

“…he’d mentioned how we weren’t meant to be connected, but…I never thought about _that.”_

“Well, now you have that to consider.” Angeal stepped back and brought up his sword again. “I would suggest that you focus on blocking that out of your mind more than you have been focusing today so far. Although, I am not going to let you leave until I see some of that focus in a spar.”

Angeal lunged forward, and Zack barely managed to get his sword up in time to block the blow.

“H-hey, I’m trying!” Zack jumped back instead of pushing against Angeal. “A lot of this stuff is really new for me!”

“Then become familiar with them,” Angeal replied. “There is no honor in going to battle unprepared.”

“Right. It’s just taking a bit to master it, is all.” Zack’s expression twisted as he rushed forward again, catching Angeal’s blade before bouncing back. He slipped around to Angeal’s side and made for a swing.

Angeal responded for a block, but then Zack swung around behind Angeal, blade following after him in an arc as he swung it into Angeal’s side. Or, almost did – he stopped it just short of Angeal’s ribcage, holding it there so that Angeal could see how close his pupil had gotten to cutting into his armor.

Angeal looked down at the sword, then back at Zack. “I could have taken that hit.”

“It’s a spar, isn’t it?” Zack pulled the sword back. “I don’t want to hurt _you,_ Angeal.”

“If you were fighting a Wutai soldier?”

“Well, duh I’d have to cut them down – we’re not on the same side!” Zack paused. “Unless they were a double-agent that worked for us or something. Then I’d have to hurt them enough to make the fight look _convincing_ if we were being watched by someone in Wutai or something.”

“If you knew they were a turncoat,” Angeal pointed out. “Most of that sort would only answer to the Turks.” He sighed and shook his head. “I would have been able to handle what you’re capable of, Zack. And I’m not an old man who can’t heal from a wound.”

“Eh heh.” Zack rubbed the back of his head, sheepish. “Right.”

He almost missed the blade that came down at his head. “Wha – hey!”

“I never said we were done yet, Zack!” Angeal pointed the sword at his pupil. “Show me that you have what it takes to become a First!”

\----

Sephiroth brushed against Zack’s mind and was pleasantly surprised to be met with a thick set of walls. Not thick enough that he couldn’t sense Zack’s focus on a spar with Angeal, but thick enough that nothing was leaking through unless Sephiroth actively poked him.

The fact that Zack didn’t seem to be _aware_ of Sephiroth was certainly a good thing, in this moment. It meant Zack wouldn’t poke him back, and instead would build up his walls further.

“Hm.” Sephiroth inclined his head slightly and continued about his work. So, the puppy _could_ keep up a subconscious mental barrier after all. That was a good sign; it meant Zack Fair didn’t have as much work as he needed in order to make a constant, consistent barrier.

It was simply a matter of learning to keep it up _all_ the time, but Sephiroth assumed that wouldn’t be a problem.


	6. Preliminary Experiments

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The family thing is done! Huzzah! :D Now I can get back to posting!
> 
> I'll post twice this week (today and Friday), but next week I'm planning on going back to just once a week on Fridays again. If I decide to go back to twice a week permanently, I'll let you guys know, but I'm gonna wait until I have a /ton/ more chapters written, first. I'm currently working on Chapter 23, so I'm a fair distance ahead, but I want to get a liiiittle more done before I start posting more frequently.
> 
> In the meantime...I think we all know what this chapter's gonna entail.

It was inevitable that Hojo was going to come calling.

“He wants to _what?”_ Angeal looked between his friend and his pupil with a disbelieving expression.

“Professor Hojo is intent on testing the capabilities of the connection,” Sephiroth repeated with a straight face. “Which will require both of us being present in his…research facility.”

Zack could feel the annoyance simmering just behind the barrier. Despite their ability to keep up the mental walls – something that Zack was becoming more comfortable with keeping up – being this close to Sephiroth meant that some things still slipped past. “That’s just a nice way of saying we’re both gonna be poked and prodded.”

“I thought we had more time than this.” Angeal started pacing. Since this was Sephrioth’s office, he didn’t have as much space to move as he probably wanted. “It’s been two and a half weeks since this began, and he hasn’t made a move before now. With any luck, he would have been focused more on the SOLDIER candidates coming in, and less on—”

“He is always intent on me, Angeal,” Sephiroth replied evenly. “It was only a matter of time before he returned to his…experiment.”

The momentary flare of emotion that Zack felt from Sephiroth didn’t so much as show up on the General’s face.

“Is there any way we can avoid it?” Zack asked. “Or…put it off?”

“Something tells me that Sephiroth has been trying to do that for a great deal of time already,” Angeal replied in frustration.

“The war in Wutai has kept Hojo from being able to reach me as often as he would like,” Sephiroth replied. “As I will be leaving soon to take up my post again, I have no doubt that he will be attempting to judge our progress before he is unable to reach me.”

Zack didn’t know much about Hojo, except that he was a creep and he liked experimenting on the monsters that could break out and run rampant in the building above the 60th floor. Clearing those out without bringing the building down around their ears may as well have been _two_ missions with how nasty they were. With Sephiroth in his head, however, he was getting a little more information, and the more he got, the less he liked.

Especially since Sephiroth apparently saw Hojo on the regular _and_ had been effectively raised by Hojo to be a near-perfect soldier.

“So…what are we going to do?” Zack asked. “I mean – you wanted to make sure he didn’t get as much as we _know,_ right? So we can stay ahead?”

“And to ensure that you will not become more involved than you already are,” Sephiroth confirmed. “As Angeal’s pupil, he has more sway over your position than I do; however, as Hojo is the one who created the SOLIDER program….”

“He has more clout in this than I do,” Angeal said with frustration. “At least we managed to keep him away from you for this long.”

“If you don’t like him, then…why doesn’t Shinra do something about it?” Zack frowned.

“Because he invented the SOLDIER program, and he isn’t about to let anyone else know how to keep it running,” Sephiroth replied. “It is…an agreement with the president. Even if we were to make our grievances known, nothing would be done on the matter of feelings. Worry and kindness will only get you killed on the battlefield.”

Zack frowned. “So, we’re…what, waging a secret war against the science department or something?”

“If we could,” Angeal muttered.

Sephiroth frowned at Angeal. All Zack was getting was nothing _but_ annoyance and irritation. “We are loyal members of SOLDIER. Waging war against another of Shinra’s departments would not be wise.”

And would definitely get them more trouble than they wanted.

“So…what do we do?” Zack fidgeted as Angeal and Sephiroth looked at him. “I mean – we can’t avoid him forever, can we?”

Angeal and Sephiroth exchanged looks, and Zack thought he _almost_ caught a train of thought from Sephiroth, but the barrier was only sealed up even more tightly in response to his poking.

“Unfortunately—”

The office door was thrown open, cutting Sephiroth off. “There you are. I was wondering where you had disappeared off to, Sephiroth.”

Zack and Angeal turned to face the speaker, and were met by a man in a lab coat, with greasy black hair and circular glasses that didn’t look like they wanted to be on his nose for long.

“Hojo,” Sephiroth greeted neutrally. “I thought we agreed that we would meet in—”

“Did you _really_ think that I was going to wait while you galivanted about, experimenting on your own time?” Hojo stepped into the office and frowned at Angeal. “And what is _he_ doing here?”

“Zack Fair is my student,” Angeal replied. His voice was controlled, almost neutral, but Zack knew when his teacher was angry or annoyed. This sounded like it was something a little beyond that. “I have every right to be concerned about what _you_ are putting _my_ student through in your experiments, professor.”

Hojo seemed unimpressed by Angeal frowning down at him. Apparently, a glaring SOLDIER didn’t faze him in the least. “Hm. Angeal Hewley. One of Hollander’s, I see.”

“What?”

“Don’t you worry, I’m not doing anything _detrimental_ to him. If anything, you should be thanking me for his future improvements in combat.”

Angeal’s eyes narrowed. Zack sent a questioning feeling back to Sephiroth, but only hit a solid wall. He took that as a signal to wall himself up more thoroughly.

“I don’t believe any of us asked for _you_ to improve his combat capabilities,” Angeal pointed out.

“No, but Shinra likes results, and he provided an interesting data set that I’ve been looking forward to seeing for myself.” Hojo looked to Sephiroth; Zack didn’t need to look to know the General was stiffening behind him. “Although, I have to question why you didn’t come to me as soon as you realized the connection had been properly established. I would have liked to supervise while you used it to its fullest.”

“He isn’t prepared for that.”

“You’ve had at least a week. I should think you discovered at least _something_ in that time.” Hojo clicked his tongue and frowned. “Well, no matter. Come with me, you two. I would like to see how far along you have brought this while you were _unsupervised.”_ He gave Angeal a pointed look. “And _Hollander’s_ boy will not be coming with us.”

Angeal looked confused and frustrated, which was _rare_ for Zack to see. Frustration alone, sure, when he’d done something in training that Angeal didn’t like the look of, but confusion? Just what was going on in his head?

Sephiroth nudged Zack at the back of his mind, and Zack almost stiffened from how Sephiroth’s presence felt. What semblance of irritation or annoyance at Hojo there had been, it was no longer there. At all.

Was Sephiroth that good at keeping his emotions in check?

Zack swallowed and rose from the chair he’d been sitting in as Sephiroth moved past him and followed Hojo out of the office. He looked at Angeal, who was schooling his expression back into something that didn’t look like he was about to cut someone’s head off.

“I’m sure I’ll be fine,” Zack offered with a grin. “Right?”

Angeal frowned, then sighed heavily. He offered a small smile. “Right.”

Zack knew how to read his teacher. Angeal’s smile did not look the _least_ sincere.

He held back the urge to swallow nervously as he followed Sephiroth out of the office and over to the elevator. If Angeal was worried and Sephiroth was pulling away with thicker walls, Hojo was _definitely_ worse than Zack had been thinking.

When they got into the elevator, Zack moved to the back of the elevator and folded his arms, watching Sephiroth and Hojo stand side by side. He couldn’t read Sephiroth as well as Angeal probably could, but the fact that they were standing so close to each other and Zack could sense _nothing_ from Sephiroth was really unnerving. He didn’t even need to bump against Sephiroth to know that his barriers were up, thick and impenetrable.

Zack closed his eyes and breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth. In and out. He tried to imagine a barrier around his own head, building a defense that made it look like someone had stuck swords in, hilt-first, before the material had fully solidified.

If he couldn’t make the walls thick like Sephiroth did, he at least could make it so that no one would want to come near him. Even if the only one who _could_ right now was Sephiroth.

Keeping focus on something like that took a bit out of him still, though. Zack almost didn’t notice when the elevator came to a stop until Sephiroth cleared his throat to get his attention.

“Huh?” Zack blinked at the open elevator doors, and Hojo already standing outside the elevator. “Oh.”

“I should think that, as a SOLDIER, you would be more aware of your surroundings,” Hojo scoffed.

“I believe he was undergoing mental training exercises.” Sephiroth stepped out of the elevator, Zack following behind.

“You _believe?”_

Sephiroth fixed Hojo with one of his intimidating stares. “I am not inside his head, Hojo. These are exercises meant to keep each other within our own minds.”

“I do not see a reason for that. You were already left alone in your respective minds _before_ the experiment.” Hojo didn’t seem the least bit fazed by Sephiroth’s glare. “You should be interested in exploring the new connection, not keeping to yourselves.”

Zack looked around as they walked down a hallway to a high-security door on one side of the building. “Um…isn’t this the board meeting level?”

“Do you really think that I would allow _all_ of my research facility to be easily accessed by the common elevator?” Hojo scoffed. “That portion is only for mako injections and other such examinations. I am not about to let my specimens into the same space as people who could potentially corrupt the data I am attempting to collect.”

Hojo tapped his keycard against the door’s lock, then motioned for Sephiroth and Zack to move in ahead of him as he stepped aside. “Go on, then. I don’t have all day to spend time observing you, as much as I would like to encourage progress in a controlled environment.”

Sephiroth stepped through without a word. Zack swallowed before he followed, still thinking about covering his mental barrier in blades so that anyone thinking about poking him would get skewered back. He was good at doing that in real life, so it made sense to _him_ that it’d get carried over.

The difference between the board meeting floor and the stairwell to Hojo’s labs was like night and day. While the floor they’d left behind was definitely meant to be warm and somewhat inviting and looked like the kind of place you’d find _normally_ in the Shinra building, what Hojo called his research facility felt dark and foreboding.

Zack rubbed his arm absently as he looked around. He’d been in a lab-like area a _couple_ times to get mako injections. Sure, there were the monster problems, but he’d never had to set foot in the lab directly during the emergencies when a creature broke containment. In comparison to the infirmary, things felt _very_ different here.

The stairwell opened up into a large, dimly lit room. Containers full of green mako made the dim lighting more sinister as they threw their green glow from the edges of the room. Any containers bigger than a human were empty.

Zack didn’t let his gaze linger on the containers for long. It almost looked like there were…things…floating in some of them. More monsters, probably, but he didn’t like the way that some of them were _shaped._

He looked to Sephiroth as they walked away from the containers, and noticed that Sephiroth wasn’t reacting to anything that was around them. _Definitely_ unnerving. How many times had Sephiroth _been_ in here?

“Now.” Hojo reached an elevator with a cage-looking door and turned, grinning. “While I would like to introduce the new experiment specimen to the Drum and see how he handles the monsters I keep _there,_ this is only a preliminary test. We will stay on this floor or the floor above for now.”

Zack wondered if he was seeing things when he saw Sephiroth’s shoulders relaxed slightly.

“We will go to the next floor, where I have the needed equipment to monitor your mental activity, and you will demonstrate to me the extent of your connection. I _want_ to see what happens when you interact, which you _will_ do. Do you understand?”

Sephiroth gave a curt nod, which prompted Zack to do the same. Sephiroth had already said they were going to keep some things secret from Hojo, so hopefully they’d be able to do that without too many problems. Unless Hojo had a way to get all the secrets out of them, which was worrying.

The ride in the elevator Hojo used in his labs was thankfully short, because the elevator felt rickety in comparison to the one that was connected to the rest of the building. Zack wasn’t able to focus well on keeping his sword blade barrier up as well.

A presence wriggled through a gap that resulted as the elevator stopped.

_-It seems you’ve found an answer to your barrier. Good. Keep it up-_

Zack almost jumped when Sephiroth spoke in his head.

_-Ensure that you do not point your blades at me-_

_-Thought the idea was to keep us to ourselves-_

_-It is. But we will need to give Hojo something-_

_-…yeah, all right-_

The next floor of Hojo’s labs didn’t have as many mako-filled containers, but it didn’t look any less inviting, either. Especially since the two chairs in the middle of the room looked like they had restraints built-in.

Any other scientists standing around scattered as Hojo approached – except for a pot-bellied older man who folded his arms across his chest and frowned.

“Taking over my labs _again,_ Hojo?” the man asked curtly.

“I don’t believe anything in this building could be called specifically _yours,_ Hollander,” Hojo replied. “Although, if you wish to contest me for the director’s chair again, by all means. Unless you want to face another failure like your last attempt.”

Hollander huffed and moved away, frowning at Sephiroth and Zack as he passed them.

_-Don’t concern yourself with him-_

_-Yeah, yeah….-_

_-Hollander is merely a rival to Hojo. That does not mean that he is any more kind-_

_-Hojo called Angeal “Hollander’s boy…any clue why?-_

_-I do not tend to ask such questions-_

Sephiroth’s response was tense and, once again, devoid of any emotion. It made Zack feel like someone had dropped an ice spell down his back. Normal people didn’t just…lock their emotions away like that. Did Sephiroth do it because of Hojo?

“If you two would come over and sit here, please.” Hojo motioned to the two chairs.

“Those kinda…look like torture devices,” Zack stayed back as Sephiroth stepped forward and handed his sword off to one of the assistants. Said assistant squeaked in alarm and skittered back, looking like the sword on his hands was going to set him on fire if he so much as held it wrong. “You’re just staring at our heads, right? Why do ya need to strap us down?”

“If you so much as twitch, you are going to send messages to your brain and therefore corrupt the data I will be receiving,” Hojo replied irritably. “It’s bad enough that I no longer have what I would need to shave your heads in order to attach the electrodes properly, so I am going to ensure that there are no _other_ ways to corrupt the data. Now, if you’ll take that sword off, we will begin.”

Hojo waited with an irritated expression as Zack pulled the sword off his back and handed it to another assistant, who ran over to where the one with Sephiroth’s sword was standing. Both of them exchanged looks as Zack took the empty chair with a slightly nervous look.

Sephiroth sighed softly through his nose. _-The more compliant you are, the sooner this will be done-_

 _-Except we’re not being **completely** compliant-_ Zack watched as his limbs were quickly strapped down. The fact that the assistants knew how to do this said they’d done it before, which…Zack didn’t know if that was unnerving or terrifying. He’d heard talk of how some SOLDIERs needed to be held down during mako treatments in the beginning…he hoped this experience was more from that than anything else.

“Hold still, please.” Another assistant brought something down on Zack’s head. It pushed down uncomfortably against his skull, making him wince. He could see out of the corner of his eye the weird-looking headset that was being put on Sephiroth’s head, and guessed that was what he was getting.

“Feels a bit tight,” Zack said, frowning.

_-They do not need to know what we are doing. Hojo simply wants to watch us communicate, and then he will let us go when either he has enough, or I am asked after-_

“It’d be easier if you didn’t have any hair, but…” The assistant hesitated for a moment, then adjusted something. Zack didn’t notice anything different. “Just deal with it for now.”

_-You? Not me?-_

_-Unless Angeal does more than voice his concerns, I…-_

Sephiroth trailed off in a way that made Zack uneasy.

“Ah, you’re communicating already. Excellent.” Hojo was looking at a computer screen set up nearby, with cables running from it to something behind Zack and Sephiroth. “Don’t stop; I want to make sure that we have as much data as possible.”

 _-Are you saying he’s going to try and keep ME here?!-_ Zack’s hands gripped the chair in a panic.

_-Zack, breathe. Considering possibilities will get us nowhere-_

_-No shit they won’t! Not if we’re stuck here and strapped in! I came here wanting to be a hero, not someone’s guinea pig!-_

_-Zack-_

_-I might as well say goodbye to training at this rate-_

_-Zack-_

_-Oh man, Kunsel was right to be worried about-_

**_-Zack-_ **

Zack stiffened as Sephiroth’s presence settled over his head. Hojo made a noise at his computer station, and Sephiroth quickly reeled himself back just enough that he was no longer sitting on top of Zack’s mind.

_-Panic will get you nowhere. The best you can do for now is breathe and keep talking to me. You **will** leave the lab with me. Angeal would have my head if I didn’t-_

Zack sighed and forced his shoulders to relax. In through the nose, out through the mouth. _-Right. Yeah. Okay-_

_-Good-_

Zack focused on breathing for a bit, not wanting to think about what Hojo actually could do, what with all the mako tanks and the monsters he kept up here.

_-Damnit, Kunsel was right-_

_-Kunsel?-_

_-Yeah; my friend? The Second Class? You poked me about him before-_ Zack frowned, remembering how Sephiroth had settled in and pulled out the memory of Zack first meeting Kunsel..

_-…ah. Yes, I remember. What was it he said?-_

Zack considered how he could answer, then started to push a memory towards Sephiroth.

_-Don’t. Tell me, don’t show me-_

Zack let the memory bounce back into place in his head. _-Huh?-_

_-A memory will show on Hojo’s machine, I suspect. Don’t let him know the connection is capable of that-_

_-Oh? Uh…okay. Well, Kunsel said he’d heard Hojo was doing something with the new SOLDIERs and calling them up for something. Tests and stuff. He wanted me to…not get his attention-_ Zack snorted. _-Funny how that didn’t work out, amiright?-_

_-…indeed-_

Zack couldn’t hear much of anything from Sephiroth other than his voice. Either he had very tight control over his thoughts right now, or there was something else going on. It had started when Hojo had shown up, so…maybe it had something to do with that? Or was this just how Sephiroth got when he had a mission and he was treating the lab like one?

_-Your friend Kunsel would work well as a Turk-_

Sephiroth’s observation was so startling Zack almost yelped. Hojo didn’t seem to notice the noise, since he was still staring at the computer screen with a strange intensity that Zack did _not_ like the look of.

_-H-huh? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I guess he could. But he likes being a SOLDIER. Dunno why he doesn’t switch, but he’s a nice guy to hang out with-_

_-…yes. You did mention that before-_ Sephiroth tilted his head slightly. The movement was _almost_ unnoticeable, but Zack could pick it up because SOLDIER senses were just that sensitive. _-I may find interest in speaking with him in the future-_

 _-Wha – really? I’d be glad to introduce you!-_ A beat, and Zack frowned. _-Unless you’re planning on asking him to stop-- -_

_-Nothing of the kind. He seems to be a good font of information that could be useful, when given to the right people. I am sure there will be ways to get that information to the people who will need it most-_

_-Need it – oh! You mean like knowing about what monsters are causing the most trouble, things like that?-_

_-Not just that sort of information, although that would be extremely useful-_

_-..oh. What, are you curious about what Hojo’s doing, too?-_

_-No-_

Sephiroth’s tone of voice almost made Zack wince. It was like having the Masamune poked at his brain, it was so harsh.

_-There are other places to gather information from that could prove to be…useful, to me. You would be willing to arrange a meeting?-_

_-Uhhh…sure? I’ll talk to him when we get out-_

Zack paused, shifted. Watched Hojo as he poured over the data on the computer screen, not saying a single word. _-Uhh…wouldn’t he have more than enough data by now?-_

Sephiroth sighed through his nose. _-He always wants more. Do not ask him if he’s had enough-_

The heaviness to Sephiroth’s words made Zack’s shoulders drop, but not because of tension leaving his shoulders. _-So…we’re basically stuck here until someone asks for us?-_

_-Or he decides he’s had enough-_

_-Which will be…when? We’ve been sitting here for what, five minutes? Ten?-_

_-Something tells me that a conversation such as ours does not happen at the same speed as a spoken one-_ Sephiroth’s voice was dry. _-The speed of thought is oftentimes faster than the speed of the body, after all. A very useful ability, when one needs to think quickly on the battlefield-_

_-…oh. Yeah, I guess so. But that just means it’s gonna feel like a **really long time** until we get outta here, right?-_

_-I am used to such things. You, clearly, are not-_

_-No duh! …how often do you have to deal with this?-_

Sephiroth sighed softly. _-More than I am sure some would like-_

Zack did _not_ like the sound of that. _-Which means I’m stuck with him now, too-_

_-Breathe, Zack. Panic and anger will not help you here-_

In through the nose, out through the mouth. Breathing exercises did nothing for the anger that was starting to burn in Zack’s stomach.

“Interesting, interesting….” Hojo continued watching the screen, not so much as giving his captive audience a glance.

Zack focused on his breathing, frowning. _-This is getting **really** creepy-_

_-It will pass-_

_-Do you have to deal with this all the time?-_

There was a pause. Zack could feel Sephiroth considering the question. He wanted to fidget, get out of the chair and move, swing his sword, do _something,_ but the restraints keeping him in the chair looked like they were built to keep SOLDIERs in place. Especially if they didn’t want to be there.

Zack drummed his fingers against the armrests.

_-I think of it as a mission. It is…better, to see things in such a manner, then see it as anything else-_

He was more prepared for Sephiroth’s sudden response this time. _-Huh. I…guess that makes sense. Except we don’t have a clear end objective. I like the ones where I can kill monsters, not sit around and just…wait-_

_-I see why Angeal calls you Puppy-_

_-Wha – hey!-_ Zack turned sharply and frowned at Sephiroth, who only offered a slight smile in return. ­ _-I’m not a puppy – I’m not!-_

_-You will have to prove Angeal otherwise, not me-_

Zack scowled. He was about to think something rather pointed at Sephiroth when a loud ringing suddenly overtook the room.

“Who decided to leave their insufferable device active?” Hojo demanded. “I thought I told all of you that work like this is _not meant to be disturbed._ ”

The assistants shuffled, looking tense.

Zack looked at Sephiroth with a cautious expression, noticing that Sephiroth had stiffened up.

_-How bad does he get?-_

Sephiroth glanced at Zack, but returned his gaze to Hojo quickly as he started moving around the room, confronting each assistant in turn as the ringing noise continued. _-…Hojo goes through assistants more quickly than any other scientist in his department-_

Something about Sephiroth’s tone suggested it was worse than Hojo just firing assistants.

“S-sir? I don’t think that’s a ringtone.” A nervous assistant was pointing at the computer screen.

 _-Ah-_ Sephiroth inclined his head as Hojo turned to see what the assistant was pointing at.

_-Huh?-_

_-His machine has collected the amount of preliminary data he thinks he needs-_

_-Oh. So…we can go?-_ Zack started to feel a bit hopeful.

“Hmph.” Hojo adjusted his glasses and hit a few keys, turning the ringing off. “Infernal devices. I would have liked to collect more data than this.” He waved towards Sephiroth and Zack without looking at them, and the assistants moved immediately. “I will be calling the two of you back in here for observation on your progress. And I expect you to _make_ progress, Sephiroth.”

Zack practically leapt out of the chair as soon as he could. Sephiroth moved with his usual grace and motioned for his sword, which was quickly brought back without Sephiroth needing to say a word. Zack followed his lead, but went over to the assistant with his longsword, rather than waiting for the assistant to come to him.

“I’ll see what can be done about that,” Sephiroth replied evenly. “I assume we are done?”

“For now,” Hojo replied shortly. “Go on, off with you. I have data to analyze.”

Sephiroth turned heel _immediately_ and made for the exit. Zack had to run to keep up with him. Zack stumbled as he stepped into the lift, but that was mostly because Sephiroth pulled up his mental barrier immediately.

Zack took what time he could to close up his own as he followed Sephiroth out of the lab and back to the 64thfloor. “You _really_ don’t like Hojo.”

Sephiroth looked at Zack as quick footsteps resounded in the corridor. Something about the look in his eyes almost made Zack want to reach for his sword to defend himself. Almost.

“I cannot say whether I do or do not,” Sephiroth replied evenly. “I merely tolerate him.”

Zack frowned. “Well—”

He caught someone out of the corner of his eye and turned as Angeal came to a stop.

“Sephiroth. Zack.” Angeal nodded. “All in one piece, I see.”

“For the moment.” Sephiroth rested his hand on his sword, frowning. “I do not know how well I will be able to protect Zack from Hojo in the future, Angeal.”

Angeal frowned. He sighed and shook his head. “That is something we will have to handle as we go, I suppose. But I am not about to let his training slack just because of something Hojo is up to. Do you know anything?”

Zack rubbed his head, where the headset had been pushed against his hair. Some of the spikes had gone flat because of it sitting there. “He just had us sit and talk for a bit.”

“Telepathically,” Sephiroth added as Angeal frowned. “He seems to suspect that it can be developed further, but he will not be given time in the future to test it, if I am going to Wutai again.” He paused. “Unless he wishes to test the distance the connection can handle.”

“If he thinks he can take Zack away whenever he likes, he has something else he’ll need to consider,” Angeal replied.

“I’m right here, you know, you don’t have to speak about me like I’m not here.” Zack huffed. “I know Hojo’s dangerous; all the monsters that break out of his lab sometimes definitely say something about that. But we got out of this okay today, Angeal.”

“Today. Who’s to say the same will happen in the future?” Angeal shook his head. “That man’s actions aren’t entirely honorable, Sephiroth.”

“And yet he runs the entire science department,” Sephiroth replied. He glanced at the closed door behind him. “Take your pupil and do as you like, Angeal.”

Something about the tone in his voice made Angeal nod slightly. “Will I see you before you leave?”

“Likely not.” Sephiroth paused and looked at Zack for a moment.

_-Remember what I asked about your friend-_

Zack was getting better and not jolting at these sudden intrusions. _-Yeah, sure-_

Sephiroth nodded, then turned and walked down the hall towards the elevator.

“You two are getting more comfortable with that new ability.” Angeal frowned as Zack turned his attention back to his teacher.

“Kinda hard not to.” Zack shrugged. “So…training? Please? I’ve been stuck in a chair and I need to _move.”_

Angeal’s expression didn’t shift from his frown until Zack started squatting from having so much energy. “All right. I’m sure I can think up something that will be suitably tiring.”

The grin that crossed Angeal’s face a moment later made Zack wonder if he was going to regret asking for training.


	7. Crisis Start

Kunsel wasn’t sure _what_ deity he’d managed to tick off before this morning. Whoever they were, he hoped they had a sense of humor.

Because Sephiroth had told Zack that he wanted to _meet_ Kunsel, and now here he was, standing outside Sephiroth’s office door.

Kunsel fought the urge to swallow nervously and made one last attempt to steel himself before he opened the door and looked inside. “Sir?”

Sephiroth was frowning at what looked like a rather long email on his computer. “What is it?”

Kunsel stepped into the office and held the door handle behind him, ready to close it or get away at a moment’s notice. “Second Class Kunsel, here for a meeting? Zack said you wanted to meet me?”

Sephiroth’s cat-green eyes flicked from the computer to Kunsel. He had to fight the urge to shudder as he was looked over like a piece of prey. “Close the door, and remove your helmet. You’re not on a mission here.”

Kunsel did both things, making sure the door was closed securely behind him as he tucked his helmet under his arm.

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at Kunsel’s appearance. “Hm.”

“I like to keep it on because then most people won’t know me on sight so easily.” Kunsel stepped towards the chair and paused behind it. He sat down when Sephiroth motioned for him to. “Why did you want to see me, sir?”

Sephiroth scanned over Kunsel’s features again, and he fought the urge to visibly shudder. Going around without the helmet made him feel naked, exposed. With it on, it was easier to hide his emotional state. “Zack said you were…very good, at procuring information.”

“If you think I’m a part of the Silver Elite, I’m _not,”_ Kunsel replied immediately. “I don’t know _how_ they get that kind of information on you.”

Sephiroth raised a hand, and Kunsel cursed himself for letting that spill out. “But you at the very least are aware of their actions. That’s good. I could use someone with skills such as that.”

Kunsel blinked. “…why not ask the Turks, then?”

“Because asking one would mean asking _all_ of them, as they do not keep secrets from each other. You, however seem more than capable of keeping a great deal to yourself.” Sephiroth glanced at his computer screen again. “I want you to look into Hollander.”

“Hollander?” Kunsel stared. “The old scientist who works with Hojo and is potentially a different kind of crazy. _That_ Hollander.”

“Yes, that Hollander.” Sephiroth tilted his head, and Kunsel realized belatedly that he’d referred to Hojo as crazy when he’d said Hollander was crazy. Sephiroth didn’t seem to mind it, though. Huh. “I have reason to be…interested…in his projects. I don’t expect you to find much information on his current focus, but if you can, I would appreciate knowing his current set of movements and anything else you can find on him, if possible.”

“Normally, I don’t _ask_ why someone wants information like this, but…sir, what’s gotten you interested in the science department? I would have thought that you would be getting a great deal of information from them already, because of….” Kunsel trailed off.

“Because of?”

“Because of Hojo, sir.”

Sephiroth’s probing look shifted. “Hojo does not speak quite _that_ freely of his projects, and those who work with him aren’t encouraged to do so, either. With your abilities, however, I have no doubt you will be able to find something that I would not have otherwise known of.”

Abilities. Right. Kunsel got the sinking feeling that Sephiroth was digging for _something._ What that something was and _why,_ Kunsel wasn’t sure if he wanted to find out.

But the Silver General had asked _a Second_ to take on a mission. He’d be stupid if he’d said no.

“I’ll find what I can, sir.” Kunsel said. “Is there anything else?”

Sephiroth’s eyes glimmered. “Just one more thing.”

\----

When Sephiroth left for Wutai, Zack felt him go out of mental range a few hours later. And it felt _weird,_ when it happened.

“It’s not like the connection’s _snapped_ or anything,” Zack said to Angeal, rubbing his head. “It’s…it’s kinda like I’m trying to search for a signal? And I’m not picking him up?” He shrugged and shook his head. “I dunno if that makes any sense, but—”

“At least you aren’t in pain from it,” Angeal replied. “And you won’t know what Sephiroth is doing in his missions in Wutai.”

“Guess not. Is it important that I don’t know, though?” Zack adjusted his grip on his sword, frowning.

“For the moment. A First’s missions are far more dangerous than a Second’s, and a great deal of what we have to deal with is confidential for a Second.” Angeal raised his longsword and frowned at Zack. “Are you feeling well enough to begin again?”

“Yeah, just…just gimme a minute. I think getting those walls back up is gonna help me ignore the lost signal feeling at the back of my head….” Zack pressed a hand against his forehead as he closed his eyes and focused on the feeling of closing up his mind. It was getting easier, but that didn’t mean it was as easy as swinging his sword just yet.

Still, having it up meant that the weird fuzzy feeling at the back of his head went away.

“Okay!” Zack settled back into his stance. “I’m ready!”

Angeal was already in mid swing, forcing Zack to duck.

“Hey! I thought—”

“An opponent isn’t going to wait for you to prepare, Zack! You must do these things quickly if you are going to be able to keep up!”

“Whoa!”

Angeal went instantly on the offensive, forcing Zack almost into a corner of the training room before Zack was able to find a way out. Jumping to the wall and then over Angeal’s head definitely worked, and then they were back in the middle of the room again, blades dancing as sparks flew in all sorts of directions.

Zack didn’t stop the grin that crossed his face. Fighting in a simulation was all well and good, but when Angeal pushed him while still holding back, there was something exciting about being able to just go all out.

Angeal still managed to trip him up in the end, but Zack felt better about this spar than he had in _a while._

“I think I lasted longer that time!” Zack jumped to his feet. “You saw through that spin-around-your-back thing that I did last time, though. I’m gonna have to come up with something new so that I can throw you off next time.”

“I think a move like that will work admirably on anyone of a lower rank than you, much less a Wutai soldier, so long as you move quickly,” Angeal pointed out. “Your fighting style is…unique, Zack. Don’t change it too much, or you may lose yourself in the process.”

“Yeah, okay! I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks, Angeal!”

A knock sounded at the training door, but before Angeal could finish turning his head, it was opened to reveal a nervous-looking young man in a lab coat.

“S-sorry to intrude, sir,” the young man said quickly. “I was just sent to ask…um…can Zack Fair sense Sephiroth at this point in time?”

It didn’t take much to realize who had sent him.

“You just missed me losing the signal,” Zack replied. “It was…three hours after he took off for Wutai?”

The assistant blinked in surprise. “O-oh! Uh – I’ll go let, uh – thanks!”

The door was closed quickly, and Angeal turned to look at Zack, frowning.

“Are you certain you should have told him that?” Angeal asked.

Zack shrugged. “I mean, it wouldn’t exactly _hurt._ At least it means Hojo can’t try to experiment with me and Sephiroth doing long distance stuff.”

“While that is true, he may still attempt to find a way to strengthen the connection.”

“Can’t strengthen something that isn’t there! Lost signal, remember?” Zack settled back into a ready stance, sword up. “Come on, let’s keep going! I’ve only just warmed up!”

Angeal eyed Zack for a long moment, then shook his head. “Materia practice. We’ve been leaving that to the wayside for long enough.”

“Ah, what?”

“Magic requires concentration and focus, and you have been building up a great deal of that in your sessions with Sephiroth.” Angeal motioned with his chin towards the door. “Simulator. Let’s see how you can handle materia.”

Zack frowned, but rested his sword against his back as he followed Angeal to the simulator on the floor. “I don’t have any new materia on me, just Blizzard and Lightning. I haven’t exactly been picking up any on missions lately.” He paused. “I…haven’t had any missions _at all_ since the headache, actually. Haven’t I been cleared by now?”

Angeal paused at the question. He looked like he was aware of _something,_ but he didn’t give Zack an answer he wanted to hear. “That is up to Director Lazard. With as much energy as you have, as well as your ability, _I_ don’t see why you can’t take on more missions, but it’s not up to me.”

Zack’s shoulders sagged as they reached the simulator. “Oh, come _on.”_

“You will just have to be patient, Zack.” Angeal paused at the door. “Actually….”

Zack looked up at his teacher at his tone of voice.

“I have an idea,” Angeal said with a slight smile. “There are a few pre-programmed missions in the simulator. Would you like to take one?”

“Yes! Yes yes yes, _please,_ Angeal? _Please?”_

“All right, all right. Go get prepared, I’ll make sure it’s set up for you.”

Zack did _not_ need to be told twice. He rushed into the simulator before Angeal finished speaking, and pulled on one of the available VR headsets. “Come on, come on! I could use some action!”

“Even if it isn’t real?” Angeal chided as the simulator started to hum.

“A mission’s a mission, even if it isn’t a real one – for now.” Zack did a few squats as the setting pixelated into reality around them. A helicopter? He stopped squatting to settle his balance as their new ride flew down towards something. Midgar, it looked like.

Zack hadn’t set foot outside of the Shinra headquarters in the center of the city since this whole mental connection thing with Sephiroth had started, but it seemed to him that the simulation was just as real as what was outside. The plate system was still under construction, with cranes everywhere and most of the outer edges of the city jagged and incomplete. Except for the fact that this simulation apparently happened at _night,_ it was almost as though he’d stepped out of the building for an actual mission.

Which only made him even _more_ hyped for this. He almost started doing squats again as the helicopter flew down and followed a fast-moving train, but that was a bad idea in a moving aircraft. Besides, Angeal would have glared at him for not focusing on the mission, real or not.

 _::Wutai Troops have hijacked Shinra Express MK 93 II::_ said a voice from the helicopter’s internal communications array. _::The train is currently headed to Midgar Sector 8. A SOLDIER operative will be interested to neutralize the situation::_

The mission briefing, brief as it was, told Zack everything he needed to know. Invaded train, Wutai soldiers. Right. _Finally,_ some action!

_::We are to proceed as scheduled. Commence mission in 3. 2. 1. Mark! Begin mission. Operative is ready for insertion::_

Zack was already activating one of the side doors of the helicopter. The sound of the blades whirring became that much louder, and Zack found himself grinning at the prospect of jumping from a moving helicopter to a moving train. This is what he’d been missing! All those weeks stuck inside with Angeal and Sephiroth trading him back and forth – _finally,_ he could actually do something!

Simulation or no, it was good to be back in action.

“The train has been overrun by Wutai troops,” Angeal said as Zack stepped out onto the lower half of the helicopter’s door. “Eliminate them, and regain control of the train.”

Zack gave Angeal a very loose salute. “Oh yeah!”

He leapt out of the helicopter – probably with more push than necessary, but he had energy to burn and he wanted to cut _something._

“Get serious!” Angeal shouted after him.

Zack would have rolled his eyes at Angeal had he not been focusing on landing on top of the train before it went under a bridge. Wouldn’t do him any good if he hit that face-first – the mission would be done before it even started!

He stuck the landing just before the bridge, then waited for it to pass before he rose with a smirk.

“Zack!”

Zack turned as Angeal hit the train behind him.

“Zack, _focus.”_ Angeal said with a frown. The “don’t-make-me-regret-doing-this” frown.

Zack frowned back. He _was_ focusing. Angeal should just know how to read him by now.

“There are no Shinra troops on this train. Understood?”

Zack’s nod was short, and he turned with a grin before rushing down the train at full speed.

Yeah, he was _definitely_ looking forward to cutting loose.

\----

Unfortunately, the simulation had hit him with other plans, and now he was down a longsword because he hadn’t been able to fight off a Sephiroth glitch in the system.

Great.

Zack had thought that maybe being able to read the _real_ Sephiroth would let him know how to fight against him better, but _apparently not._ A part of him wished it had been a second behemoth instead, but even that had been a bit of a difficult fight.

Zack sighed as Angeal handed him the destroyed blade and walked to the simulator’s entrance. That…could have gone better.

“Zack.”

Zack turned as Angeal walked out of the simulator.

“Embrace your dreams.”

That came out of nowhere. “Huh?”

Angeal stopped at the simulator’s exit. He didn’t turn back to look at Zack, so he got a good view of the giant sword on Angeal’s back instead. “If you want to be a hero, you need to have dreams…and honor.”

Sounded like a speech that Zack hadn’t heard in a _while._

Zack rubbed the back of his head as Angeal stepped out of the simulator, leaving Zack to think over what had just happened in the virtual mission, as well as what Angeal had said. A part of him _almost_ thought about poking Sephiroth over it, but then he remembered the fuzzy feeling of the lost connection and left it alone.

He was able to think things through before he had Sephiroth to talk to. He didn’t _need_ to lean on that crutch, not really.

Zack sighed and spun the hilt of his destroyed blade in one hand. “Well, better get this replaced. At least it’s standard issue.”

Angeal always talked about honor, Zack reflected as he walked to the armory. _Dreams_ were something that could come up just as often, but didn’t. Angeal knew Zack’s dream, so it wasn’t as though Angeal didn’t know if Zack had any. Maybe he was just reminding Zack to remember them?

_Makes sense, I guess. Got all caught up in figuring out the new thing with Sephiroth that I stopped talking about my dream so much. I gotta remember it, though. Sephiroth isn’t going to be the **only** hero anymore, after all, and it’s not like my dreams are his._

Especially not with that connection, so long as they were in range.

Zack had gotten his new-but-still-a-standard-longsword from the armory when he felt his PHS buzzing in his pocket. A pulled it out as he put the longsword against his back and flipped it open.

“…Kunsel?” Zack blinked at the message.

_Zack, meet me at the usual place. There’s something I want to talk to you about -K._

“Huh. Wonder what he wants to see me for.” Zack sent a quick reply back and left the armory, feeling a bit more whole now that he had an actual sword on his back.

The “usual place” was, of course, the lounge the two of them tended to frequent. Kunsel wasn’t there when Zack got there – probably still making his way there – so Zack started doing squats to pass the time. Angeal _had_ cut their training short, so it made sense to him that he’d do _something_ to burn the energy off.

Kunsel showed up a few minutes later and sat on the stairs leading down into the area with all the couches. “Hey, Zack. You seem a little on edge.”

Did he?

Well…

“Can you blame me?” Zack’s squats put pauses in every few words. “All this – training – and no – assignments. Like they’re – hanging me out to dry.”

Ever since the headaches, anyway. These last few weeks had just been _weird._ Nothing but mental and physical training and no chance to _really_ test his skills out in the field. It left Zack antsy.

“You must be pretty busy – with everyone off base,” Zack added, nodding to Kunsel.

“Off-base?” Kunsel repeated in confusion.

“Yeah – I mean, that’s why it’s so quiet around right now, right? I haven’t seen any other SOLDIERs except you and Angeal since Sephiroth left.”

“You mean, you haven’t heard?”

“Heard what?”

“There’s been a mass desertion at SOLDIER.”

Zack’s squats slowed to a stop. “What?”

“Yeah. It appears one of the Firsts deserted, and he took a bunch of Seconds and Thirds with him. Nobody knows why he left, _or_ what he’s up to, so that’s why everything’s on hold right now.” Kunsel stepped down to where Zack was standing. “That’s…not what I wanted to talk to you about, though.”

“It _isn’t?_ ” Zack stared. “What’s more important than a mass desertion?”

“Whatever Hojo’s up to, probably.” Kunsel paused. “You…you remember, when you set up that meeting for me and General Sephiroth, right? Because he wanted to see me?”

“Yeah?” He’d taken care of that a couple days after he and Sephiroth had ended up in Hojo’s lab getting their heads poked at.

“He asked me to…look into some things, for him. Something about one of the scientists who works alongside Hojo. You’re…he said he wanted to keep you in on what I found.”

“Really?” Zack blinked in surprise. “Why would he want to do that?”

“Beats me, but…look, there’s something _definitely_ fishy going on in the science department. If it’s not Hojo, it’s Hollander, and if it’s neither of them, it’s something that traces back to their research. They competed with each other twenty years ago to become the new head after Gast, and Hojo’s SOLDIER program resulted from that. And now he’s working to improve on what he started twenty years ago. I’m more interested in what Hollander did right now, though.”

“What do you m –“ Zack cut himself off when he realized that Kunsel had changed the subject abruptly. “Wait, Hollander? Why are you interested in him and not whatever Hojo’s doing?”

“I’m not; _Sephiroth_ is.”

“How does that make any—” Zack cut himself off when he remembered.

Hojo had called Angeal one of _Hollander’s boys._

“Oh.”

“So, you _do_ know something about it.” Kunsel rested a hand on his hip and tilted his head.

“…you could say that. Not much, though.”

“Well, I’m not gonna ask. Whatever it is, I’ll probably figure it out on my own. I’ll just have to ask you if I’m anywhere close to what you know.” Kunsel’s mouth quirked upward in a smirk, but it was gone just as quickly. “I sent the information I found to Sephiroth, but I don’t know if he’s going to have the chance to read it over yet. I know that I’m going to need to keep digging, though. There are a _lot_ of things I don’t have answers for yet.”

Zack frowned. “Well…whatever’s going on, I hope you get answers.”

“You and me both.” Kunsel looked around at the empty floor. “Especially since the mass desertion took most of the rumor mill with it. Looks like that’s one way I’m not going to be getting any new information anytime soon.”

“One way? Are you saying there’s more than one?”

Kunsel laughed. “Wouldn’t you like to know? They’re my secret, though. Speaking of – I’ve got some things I need to do. Have fun squatting, Zack.”

“Yeah, yeah….” Zack watched Kunsel go with a frown. “For a SOLDIER, you definitely like knowing stuff a lot more than hitting stuff….”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If the chapter title doesn't make any sense to you, then my word choice clearly isn't up to snuff this time.
> 
> But yes! We're finally getting into the game's plot! I don't expect myself to be able to throw everything off-kilter right away, but the mental connection will help push things closer to AU than canon. The more that happens, the more to the edge we get. It's gonna be fun.
> 
> Especially since I'm at chapter 25 and I'm only *just* starting to prep for the Nibelheim mission.


	8. A Visit To Wutai

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...remember how I said I'd go back to posting once a week after posting twice a week for two weeks? (typing that left my mind a bit jumbled, oof)
> 
> Well...I'm currently 22 chapters ahead of you guys. I think that big of a gap warrants going back to twice a week and /staying there./ Current plan is to keep it on Tuesday and Friday, because that just seems to work somehow.
> 
> Oh! And if you guys have any questions you want to ask me about future chapters during the week, you can find me [on Tumblr!](https://crossroadsdimension.tumblr.com)
> 
> I may not answer everything (because spoilers), but I'm definitely open to talking about my story!

It wasn’t until a few days later, when Zack was hanging out with Kunsel again, that the never-ending training sessions came to an abrupt halt.

“Heads-up, a First!” Kunsel stood to attention as Zack looked up from the files that Kunsel had sent his PHS – some stuff about Hollander spending time outside Shinra’s headquarters, mostly, but Zack didn’t know if that would mean anything to Sephiroth.

Angeal came to a stop near the couch, frowned at the two of them, then gave Kunsel a nod before looking at Zack. “Zack, new assignment.”

Zack leapt off the couch faster than Kunsel had. “Woo! Finally! I was getting so _bored_ not getting any real action!” He almost bounced over to Angeal.

“This will be your show,” Angeal told him.

“Yes!” A mission where he didn’t have to play backup? Great! That was more than he was expecting, after spending so much time not doing missions.

“Report to Director Lazard. We’ll give you the details.” Angeal paused. “And try not to act _too_ excited. I know it’s been a few weeks since your last mission, but that doesn’t mean you should act like an eager puppy over it.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Zack waved him off. “I’ll keep it in, I promise.”

Angeal eyed Zack, then nodded and walked off.

“Sounds like you’re finally getting what you wanted,” Kunsel remarked.

“Yeah!” Zack grinned. “I’m gonna go see what this is all about. See you later!”

Zack started to run off, but Kunsel grabbed him by the shoulder and nearly sent them both sprawling on the floor.

“Hey, what—”

“Just one more thing.” Kunsel sounded unusually serious. “I forgot to ask you this before, but if it comes up, I’d appreciate it if you _didn’t_ tell anyone about what Sephiroth asked me for.”

“Huh? Oh.” Zack slipped out of Kunsel’s grip with a grin. “Hey, man, no worries. It’s our little secret.”

Kunsel’s mouth twisted in what Zack suspected was a frown.

“What? I can keep secrets.” Zack grinned a clapped a hand to Kunsel’s shoulder. “I gotta go, remember?”

“…right.” Kunsel nodded. “Good luck.”

“Thanks!”

Zack promptly rushed off to the briefing room. He hadn’t had a chance to meet Director Lazard yet, and if the head of SOLDIER wanted to meet him for an assignment, then Zack didn’t mind at all.

A part of Zack wondered what the director was like, but he put those thoughts to rest when he got into the briefing room and looked at the man sitting next to Angeal. Blond hair, a suit, gloves, glasses.

“Zack.” The man rose to his feet. “It’s good to finally meet face to face. Lazard, Director of SOLDIER.”

Lazard’s offered hand was immediately shaken. Pretty good grip for a guy who didn’t look like he’d ever gotten into a fight.

“Heya,” Zack offered as a greeting.

Lazard nodded back, then turned his attention to the computer in front of him. “On to business.”

“Hm?” Zack tried to see what was on the screen in front of Lazard, then looked up as the larger screen flickered to life with a SOLIDER profile. There was a flashing sign over the picture of the redhead, marking him MIA.

“SOLDIER First Class Genesis,” Lazard said. “A month ago, he went missing during a mission in Wutai.” He looked to Zack. “Know anything about this?”

Zack shook his head. “Not a clue.” Although, since Genesis was a First, it was likely that he was the one Kunsel had mentioned deserting. But why would _Genesis_ of all people desert? Did he finally snap when someone said something about LOVELESS he didn’t like?

Lazard tilted his head slightly. “Interesting. Considering the amount of time you have spent with both Angeal _and_ Sephiroth, you would have gotten to know Genesis, as well.”

How did Lazard know about _that?_ “H-hey, I didn’t—”

“Genesis was sent to Wutai by the time Zack was getting to know Sephiroth,” Angeal replied.

“Yeah, that!” Zack pointed to Angeal. “So, if there’s anything going on, I don’t know about it.”

Kunsel had only _just_ told him about a deserter; it wouldn’t make sense for Zack to know anything about it. Angeal and Sephiroth had been keeping pretty much all of his attention on training when they could, and Zack had been spending time with Kunsel and anyone else in the tower when they weren’t training. Genesis had _never_ crossed his mind after the headaches had knocked him out and woke him up later with that mental connection.

Lazard inclined his head, then nodded. “The mission he was sent on is currently stuck in limbo. That’s why we’ve decided to send you.”

Wait, what?

“Uh…to Wutai?”

Angeal shifted in his chair, but Zack wasn’t looking at him.

“Yes.” Lazard looked down at his hands, folding them in front of him. “This war has gone on long enough.”

Zack’s eyes widened as a grin started crossing his face. He was going to the war front? To finish a mission that a First abandoned?

“I’ve recommended you for First.”

Angeal’s words were just enough to tip him over.

“Angeal! I love you man!” Zack immediately hugged Angeal, a grin wide enough to split his face. “Ang—”

Angeal pushed him off as Lazard laughed. “Don’t make me regret this, Zack.”

“Sir!”

If Sephiroth was here, would he have been picking up on Zack’s excitement? It felt like he was almost _vibrating_ from it.

Angeal rose to his feet. “Once you’re packed, you’ll leave at once. The operation is set to begin immediately upon arrival in Wutai.”

“All right! I can’t wait!”

\----

Something on the flight over interrupted Zack’s nap. When he jolted awake and almost fell out of his seat, it got Angeal’s attention immediately.

“Zack?” Angeal frowned. “Are you—”

“I’m fine. It just – kinda feels like something plugged itself back into my head again.” Zack hissed with discomfort and rubbed the back of his head. “ _Man,_ that felt weird. At least it didn’t come with a headache this time.”

“This time?” Lazard raised an eyebrow.

Zack froze. “Uh, I—”

“I’m aware that Hojo is up to something involving you, Zack.” Lazard frowned. It looked like he hadn’t fallen asleep at all, like Angeal. “What do you mean by ‘something plugging itself into your head’?”

Zack glanced at Angeal, who considered for a moment before nodding. If Angeal said Lazard could be trusted, then he could be trusted.

Zack looked at Lazard. “I, uh…Sephiroth and I have got this…connection thing, I guess. I lost the ‘signal’ when he left for Wutai, and I guess he’s near enough on the continent somewhere that I just picked it up again.”

“Ah.” Lazard tilted his head. “That explains the time you’ve been spending with him recently. You were taking advantage of the connection.”

“More like figuring out how to keep each other—” Zack paused as he felt Sephiroth’s questioning presence slide into the back of his mind. “Uh…that reminds me, I gotta get the barriers up again.”

“Good.” Angeal nodded. “Sephiroth may be busy with his own mission. It would not do you any good to distract him, or vice versa.”

“Yeah.” Zack nudged Sephiroth out as best he could. _-Just coming in for a mission don’t mind me-_

Sephiroth sent back a sense of confirmation and pulled back, allowing Zack to pull up his walls while Sephiroth did the same.

Zack breathed out. “Okay. They’re up.”

“Good.” Angeal nodded.

“I have to say, it’s interesting that Hojo picked you, rather than one of the incoming Thirds,” Lazard remarked. “Any ideas why?”

“Nope.” Zack shrugged. “All I’ve ever done is go on monster-killing missions and train with Angeal. I haven’t done anything all _that_ special.”

“Except that you are currently the only SOLDIER who is being personally trained by a First.” Lazard glanced at Angeal. “Perhaps that is what drew his attention.”

“If it is, I wish he could have picked someone who had gained Sephiroth’s attention, not mine,” Angeal replied.

“Mm.” Lazard nodded. “I can understand that. He did choose _your_ pupil, after all.”

“Hey, I’m not complaining,” Zack spoke up. “I’ve got two teachers now, kinda. And Angeal still does most of the training, anyway. The General just handles all the mental stuff that we’ve gotta deal with now.”

Lazard chuckled. “Well, at least there is some form of positive light to all this, if Angeal’s training schedule isn’t unhindered.”

“For now,” Angeal pointed out. “It’s only a matter of time before something else happens to upset the status quo.”

“Well, it’s not upset yet.” Zack grinned.

“Very true,” Lazard agreed.

Angeal still looked unhappy at the idea, but he didn’t continue the conversation. The look on his face made Zack wonder if Angeal was wishing _he_ could read Zack’s mind.

Zack considered the thought, then shook his head. No, that probably wasn’t a very good idea. As nice as it would be to get some extra help from a teacher-student bond like that, Angeal would probably drill his head so full of speeches about honor and dreams that he’d start _talking_ like Angeal.

That, and Hojo hadn’t seemed too fond of Angeal when he’d seen him…did it have to do with Hollander and that project he did twenty years ago? He’d have to ask Kunsel about it later, when they were back in Midgar.

Hopefully, Kunsel would have dug up something else by the time Zack, Angeal, and Lazard got back.

\----

The mission had been a fun way to _really_ cut loose. An entire Wutaian fortress, with all its troops inside, never stood a chance against hopefully-soon-to-be-First Zack Fair.

Sure, the little girl who’d tried to punch him to submission had been a bit of a surprise, and Zack had let a Wutai soldier slip away, _and_ he’d nearly been taken out by a Wutai monster and had to be rescued by Angeal, but Zack felt pretty good about the whole thing. He figured Lazard would be impressed enough that he’d promote Zack to First.

Although, he’d used a move that felt like Sephiroth’s a couple times. He could’a sworn that he’d kept the mental barrier up the whole time, so having Octaslash come in out of nowhere instead of his usual chain of sword slashes as his Limit Break was a bit weird.

Lazard caught up to them outside the fortress – and the blast radius of the bomb Angeal had set to blow it up. “Sorry to keep you waiting. I’m not used to being on-site.”

“You didn’t have to come,” Angeal pointed out.

“This operation will bring an end to the war,” Lazard replied. “I have to see it through personally.” He looked at Zack. “SOLDIER Second Class Zack.”

“Sir!” Zack stood at attention.

“You performed your duties admirably at Fort Tamblin. I saw it with my own eyes.”

So he _had_ been watching! Zack had to fight to keep the grin off his face.

“Frankly, my evaluation of you is…” Lazard considered. “You supported Angeal well by diverting the enemy. An acceptable level of work for a Second.”

Zack frowned as he relaxed and folded his arms. _Oh, come on…_

“Be ready for your next assignment,” Lazard added.

Zack sighed. He was sure he’d done what he needed in order to make Lazard want to promote him….

“Zack, do you know the difference between a First and a Second?”

Zack looked over at Angeal and shrugged. “Just the level of strength, I guess?”

Angeal shook his head. “A SOLDIER First Class performs above and beyond the call of duty at all times. Remember that.”

Oh. _Oh._

Zack’s shoulders dropped. _Great._ All he’d done was what he _needed_ to do. He didn’t take it a step further.

“Great,” Zack muttered.

“Let’s hurry back.” Angeal motioned back to the camp they had in the jungle, then started walking away. “Sephiroth is likely waiting.”

Zack’s head shot up as Lazard followed after Angeal. Oh, _yeah._ Maybe he could ask Sephiroth for help on how to make First!

Except he wasn’t able to take a step before something shifted in the underbrush.

“What the—” Zack quickly grabbed his sword as four dual-sword-wielding, masked figures dropped out of the trees and moved in front of him. He quickly threw his barriers down and thought a message as hard as he could in Sephiroth’s general direction.

_-Sephiroth! We have a problem!-_

And then he was fighting against the ambushers, blocking and attacking with his sword and using what materia he’d managed to snag off the downed Wutai soldiers in the fort. Finders keepers, after all, and the Fire and Blizzard materia were definitely helpful.

He felt Sephiroth’s presence surge in response to the message as he cut down the last of the strange attackers.

“Zack! Come on!” Angeal called from further up the path.

“What?” Zack ran after them, grabbing one of the ambushers as he went. Better to have proof that he’d been jumped than make them think he’d spaced out. “Did you get attacked too or—”

Sure enough, there were two more bodies on the ground in front of Angeal and Lazard, identical to the ones that Zack had just cut down.

He dropped the body he’d been dragging. “What is going on?!”

Sephiroth’s presence was humming at the back of his mind. He didn’t feel mad or emotional in a way Zack could sense _,_ but he was definitely feeling _something._

The trees shifted again, and two more ambushers dropped onto the path.

“Take the director to a safe place,” Angeal ordered.

“Then contact Sephiroth,” Lazard added.

“Zack is more than enough.” Angeal eyed Zack pointedly, then looked back at the ambushers.

“I, uh—” They didn’t know he’d alerted Sephiroth already, probably. “Yeah, sure.”

Sephiroth’s presence in Zack’s mind quieted slightly.

Angeal nodded to Zack. “Go. I’ll handle things here.”

Zack nodded, then moved away from the fight that was about to start. Weird that the ambushing, dual-sword-wielding masked figured hadn’t attacked yet. “Follow me, Director. Let’s get out of here!”

“Right!”

The two of them took off at a run, one Zack had to pull back on almost as soon as they took off. Lazard wasn’t used to this kind of thing, and he wasn’t enhanced, either. Zack running at full speed and leaving him in the dust wasn’t going to help at all.

Sephiroth was still there at the back of his mind, simmering, searching for _something._ Zack didn’t need to ask what, just pushed a memory of the ambush at him instead.

Sephiroth’s presence went quiet again as Zack and Lazard reached the outer perimeter of the camp.

“Thank goodness you’re safe, Director Lazard,” spoke one of the two infantrymen at the entrance.

“I am more than happy to be.” Lazard nodded to Zack. “I should be fine, now. You go back and assist Angeal.”

“Like I was planning on leaving him alone!” Zack took off back the way they’d come. He did _not_ want to leave Angeal alone in this dense jungle for long. First or not, his teacher might have problems if more of those ambushing soldiers showed up.

He thought over their uniforms again as he retraced his steps. The armor didn’t _look_ like anything a Wutai soldier would wear; the style was completely different. It did _kinda_ look familiar, though…somehow. He was going to need another look in order to figure out _what_ made them familiar.

Zack spotted a pair of the strange ambushers on the path ahead of him, lying on the ground. Was this where – “Angeal! _Angeal!”_

He looked around as he slowed to a halt. “Angeal, where….” He looked down at the two soldiers, then knelt down to give them a closer look. The armor style was definitely odder for the area than the weapons, all right. “These guys _definitely_ aren’t Wutai troops….”

He was about to grab the helmet to get a look at their face when a flare of fire above his head caught his attention.

Zack jumped back and grabbed his sword on instinct. There was a sphere of fire floating in the air, right in front of him. It flashed brightly a moment later, a circle of words and symbols appearing around it.

Uh oh.

“A summon?! Who called it out?!”

Sephiroth’s presence suddenly _surged_ as the circle and sphere brightened before the humanoid creature appeared. Almost twice Zack’s height, covered in fire, large horns on its head, mostly naked—

_Ifrit._

Zack wasn’t sure at this point if the thought was his or Sephiroth’s, but he didn’t really care. There was something in front of him definitely intent on taking him out, so he was going to have to do _something_ about it.

The fire materia he had was useless against this thing, since Ifrit was _made_ of fire, but the Blizzard he’d grabbed…

Zack started pouring his energy into the materia on his bracer as he jumped back, away from Ifrit’s reaching, fiery grasp. Dropping ice crystals on its head only seemed to make it madder, but it was probably hitting him pretty hard, too. Ice melted into water, after all, and a fiery demon from the depths of hell wasn’t supposed to like anything to do with water very much.

Sephiroth approved of the decision, at least, and Ifrit only seemed to be getting more reckless every few ice chunks it took to the head.

And then it got mad enough to _coat itself in flames_ and ram right into Zack.

“Ggrk!” Zack collided with one of the jungle trees behind him, knocking the wind out of him. Fire spread in every direction, setting trees on fire and melting the last Blizzard Zack had cast before it could even hit Ifrit. The water turned to steam in the presence of pure hellfire, but Zack wasn’t focused enough at that moment to see it.

Sephiroth’s presence surged again, and suddenly Zack thought he could see silver hair out of the corner of his eye. A moment later, strength surged through him – the kind that only a high-level Cure could provide – and he was back on his feet, away from the dent his body had made in the now-burning tree. It fell over as he got to his feet, scattering embers.

The fight was a blur after that. Zack and Sephiroth moved in sync, slashing into Ifrit before it could start to gather the strength to start throwing fireballs. Zack picked up a few things from Sephiroth’s thoughts as he went – he wasn’t going to turn his back on a monster again, even when it seemed like the fight was done and the summons went down. Fort Tamblin’s little surprise was not going to catch him off-guard again.

They slashed through its back in one stroke, and it screamed its last before exploding into fiery ash and fading from sight. The magic fire burning on the trees started to slowly follow suit, the fire fading bit by bit, leaving only scorch marks behind.

They took a moment to recover from the fight, but only that. Then they looked at the bodies of the two fallen, unfamiliar soldiers, who had somehow managed to come out mostly unscathed despite the summon’s attacks.

The helmets were ripped off at the same time, revealing identical features.

**“Genesis.”**

They frowned simultaneously, but the surge of betrayal and anger from Sephiroth caused Zack to stumble and pull back from the connection abruptly.

_-The missing SOLDIER First Class? How’re they identical?-_

Sephiroth paused, seeming to register that _something_ had just happened. He shook his head and looked back at the soldiers. _-They’re copies-_

“ _Copies?”_ That was startling enough to get Zack out of the mental scape. “How did—”

“Where is Angeal?” Sephiroth followed Zack’s example of speaking aloud. Didn’t stop Zack from sensing the surge of betrayal and anger from Sephiroth, but it was better than…

Zack shook the memory of the Ifrit fight out of his head. He could ask questions about _that_ later. “H-he was right here not too long ago – he told me to take Lazard back to camp, and then I came back here to help.”

Sephiroth grunted. “So he’s gone, too.”

Another surge of betrayal – one Zack was almost swept off his feet by. “ _What?”_

Sephiroth was simmering. A part of Zack wanted to poke at Sephiroth’s brain in order to get more information, but there was just _so much betrayal_ that it was making its own wall.

“Wait, what does that mean?” Zack didn’t want the answer to be what he was starting to dread.

Unfortunately, he was hoping for a truth that Sephiroth wasn’t going to give him.

“It means Angeal has deserted, as Genesis has.”

“No way!” Zack immediately remembered everything he knew about his teacher. “I know what kinda guy Angeal is. He’d _never_ do that!”

Sephiroth’s emotional wall remained, so Zack decided to try again.

“Angeal wouldn’t betray us! Never!”

Sephiroth’s expression hardened. “Then what does this tell you?” He motioned to the Genesis copies lying on the ground, no Angeal in sight.

“I…I don’t…” Zack shook his head slowly. “I don’t know. But I know Angeal wouldn’t just walk away from SOLIDER. He’s got too much belief in its honor for that. He’s always going on about it, so – so why would he do something that goes against what he’s been teaching me? That doesn’t make any sense.”

Sephiroth tilted his head slightly at Zack. “While I have reason to agree with you, Angeal has vanished without any additional sign of a struggle other than these two, and that is more than likely because you saw him attack them as you left with Lazard.”

How had he—

_-You are an open book, Zack-_

_-Well, s-so are you-_ Zack motioned vaguely to their surroundings as he poked at the emotional wall Sephiroth had put up. _-What the **hell** was that, anyway? It felt like…like….-_

Zack wasn’t sure _how_ to describe the weird situation that they’d just had. Moving in sync, _thinking_ in sync, even.

Sephiroth seemed to be thinking the same thing, because his emotional wall shifted slightly. _-That is something we will discuss later-_

_-But-_

**_-Later-_** Sephiroth frowned at Zack. _-We have more important problems-_

Zack winced as Sephiroth blocked him out abruptly. “Yeah...right.” He looked at the Genesis copies, then back at Sephiroth. “I still don’t think Angeal would just leave like Genesis did. Something doesn’t add up. He wouldn’t abandon us like that. He _wouldn’t._ ”

Sephiroth eyed Zack for a long moment, expression carefully guarded. He turned and started up the path that Zack had run down. “We should return and report.”

Zack moved to catch up with him. “We’re not gonna say Angeal betrayed us. Or deserted or whatever.”

“Would _you_ like to come up with a reason for his absence?”

Zack tried to think of one, but every idea he tried to think of just sounded more and more stupid. He found himself thinking in circles.

He threw his hands in the air as the sentries appeared ahead of them. “I dunno. I just…he _can’t_ have done that without a reason.”

Sephiroth glanced at Zack, then nodded. “I would like to think the same.”

It didn’t take much to notice the anger barely held in check. Zack had no doubt Sephiroth’s mental barriers were feeling the same strain.

Great. Now they had _two_ missing Firsts to worry about. Just what was going _on?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: the dialogue with Lazard is taken word-for-word, but it honestly makes no sense. Zack should know who Lazard is already because he's in SOLDIER. I find it likely that he would have met the man in person by now, or at the very least seen him before. I'm not about to change that conversation, though. Bit late for that....


	9. Replacement Mentor

Going back to Midgar and Shinra was…different, without Angeal with him.

Zack tried not to think about what had happened after the mission, but his thoughts kept circling back on themselves, to that series of events that had started with an ambush and ended with an angry Sephiroth who had been left as the only First still in Shinra’s SOLDIER program.

“It doesn’t make any sense.” Zack frowned at his folded, clenched hands.

“It doesn’t,” Lazard agreed. “But it is something we are going to have to deal with, for now.”

He didn’t know about what had happened between Zack and Sephiroth that night in the Wutai jungles, at least. That, they’d kept to themselves. No one else needed to know about the strange merging that had happened in the fight against Ifrit.

“I just…Angeal’s always going on about honor and dreams and SOLDIER—” Probably not in that order, but Zack was still shaken up by what had happened. If Angeal was here, he’d probably forgive him for the slip-up. _“That’s SOLDIER honor and dreams, Zack."_

Zack rested his head in his hands. “It doesn’t make any sense that he would _abandon_ that.”

“It doesn’t,” Lazard agreed. “But he was alone in the jungle with his opponents. Who knows what he could have thought in the time it took for you to take me to the camp and run back to assist him?”

“Kinda wish _I’d_ known,” Zack muttered. “I could’ve – could’ve stopped him. Or _something._ At least we could’ve gotten some straight answers about what he was thinking about.”

How would that have worked, getting telepathy with Angeal instead of Sephiroth? Would it have been Hollander running experiments instead?

Kunsel _had_ said that Hollander and Hojo had competed for the director position twenty years ago, and that Hojo had won out…Hollander _could_ have used something like that as a leg up. Maybe.

But Hollander couldn’t _do_ that if Angeal was gone. And then there were the Genesis copies….

“Don’t think too hard about it.”

Zack blinked and looked up at Lazard. “Huh?”

“Wutai,” Lazard said, as though that explained _everything._ “I know you’re upset over this. Thinking over what-ifs and could-haves will get us nowhere, as going to the past to change such things is impossible.”

“It wouldn’t be if we could figure out how to make Time materia work that way.”

Lazard raised an eyebrow. “Maybe, but I doubt that’s going to happen anytime soon.” He shook his head. “Take some time to yourself when we get back, Zack. Two days. I’ll give you permission to take some local missions by then. Perhaps a distraction of that sort will be helpful?”

Zack _really_ didn’t want to think about how good a distraction going out and slaying monsters was. He really didn’t.

“Think it over,” Lazard said. “I won’t push you to do anything, but we can’t afford to have you wallow in your own misery right now. Especially not when we’re missing two of our finest. If I could give you more time to come to terms with this, I would, but we are going to be incredibly short-handed now.”

“Because Genesis took a bunch of people with him,” Zack muttered.

“Right.”

They fell silent.

“I just…” Zack dropped his head into his hands. “Angeal, _why?_ ”

His thoughts kept circling back through the ambushes, but he couldn’t see _anything_ that suggested something had been going on.

“Something must’ve happened when we left him alone.” Zack gritted his teeth. “Why didn’t I stay put? Sephiroth already knew there was something going on, so—”

“What?” Lazard leaned forward. “What do you mean?”

Zack paused. Oh, right. They’d let Lazard know about this on the flight in. Angeal had trusted him, so…

“I…I let Sephiroth know when they jumped me, before we went back to camp. I don’t know where he was before then, but he jumped in in time to help me take out the summon that showed up.” Zack looked up at Lazard. “He’s probably not gonna mention that in any report, though, and I probably shouldn’t, either.”

“Oh?” Lazard frowned.

“We, uh…” Zack rubbed the back of his neck. “We’re trying to keep how much we know about it away from Hojo. Angeal didn’t want me to be an experiment, and I don’t think Sephiroth does, either. Hojo’s creepy, anyway.”

Lazard’s expression turned into a wall.

“I-it’s just – I don’t want Angeal to come back and find me hooked up to a bunch of tubes or something!” Zack held up his hands in a defensive, placating gesture. “Besides, we haven’t really told anybody about this. So…could you keep it a secret? Please?”

Lazard’s expression didn’t change, and that only made Zack fidget.

He tried a different tactic. “I don’t think Sephiroth wants very many people to know yet, either. I mean, it’s only been a month, so—”

“You don’t need to worry about me telling anyone,” Lazard interrupted. His expression softened into something that made Zack’s shoulders drop from their tense position. “We’ll consider it a secret weapon still in development, as it’s clear you two are still getting used to it and haven’t explored it to the fullest yet. I’ll do what I can to keep Hojo from taking the two of you to his labs, but I don’t have very much pull over what the science department does in their research facilities. The best I can do is limit the amount of time he can have you _specifically_ there. You came to Shinra and signed up for SOLDIER, after all. You’re one of my men, not Hojo’s.”

Zack sighed in relief. “Thanks.”

“And if it means seeing Hojo annoyed because he can’t do so many experiments, well….” Lazard chuckled. “I’ll let you in on a little secret, so don’t tell anyone else. The rest of us only _tolerate_ Hojo and what he does. The president likes him, and at least _some_ of his research has benefited some of the other departments. I’m sure that if he wasn’t the department head, and if he wasn’t the one who created SOLDIER, he would not be in Shinra at all.”

Zack blinked. “I, uh – really?”

Lazard nodded. “I’d certainly kick him out the first opportunity I had, but he gave me one of our best SOLDIERs.” He shrugged. “So I merely tolerate his presence. I would recommend that you do the same, if you can.”

“…huh.”

Well, at least that explained the looks on Sephiroth’s and Angeal’s faces when Hojo showed up in Sephiroth’s office before. He was going to have to keep that in mind.

 _Especially_ if he wanted to make sure he was still here whenever they saw Angeal again.

\-----

Training and going on missions without Angeal there was…weird, putting it mildly. He was used to having someone correct his sword stance, or drill him through a few simulations, or give speeches at him about dreams and honor, even as he cut down monsters that had broken into the slums below the plate.

Well, not that he really _needed_ the speeches – he knew how Angeal would put together one of those without so much as a warning – but he’d taken them to be a sign that Angeal actually _cared_ about Zack’s training.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Zack almost jumped when Sephiroth’s voice came at him from the simulator’s entrance. The five pixelating infantrymen scattered to pieces as the rocky plateau dissipated. “Uh – training? Kinda?”

Sephiroth stared at him for a long moment, hand on the deactivation switch that had turned off the fight. “I can see what Angeal meant by you needing focus.”

Zack winced at the mention of his absent teacher. “H-hey, I _am_ focusing.”

“Perhaps not in the right way.” Sephiroth did something with the controls and shifted the rocky plateau back on again. “Show me what you’ve learned.”

Zack stared as Sephiroth walked to the center of the digital area. “Uh – against you?”

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at him and drew Masamune. The long katana looked like it could skewer Zack without Sephiroth so much as taking a step forward. “I won’t kill you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Zack set his jaw and held his sword in front of him in a ready stance. “I’m not worried, it’s just—”

He hesitated, gave Sephiroth’s walls a mental nudge. “When we were in a fight last time, we kinda…merged? Or something? That’s not gonna happen this time, is it?”

Sephiroth inclined his head at the question. “You suspect that it might?”

“Well, I mean, it happened when we were _fighting._ ” Against an opponent, not each other, but still. “Don’t you think it’s weird that it happened?”

Sephiroth eyed Zack for a long moment, then lowered his sword. He didn’t sheathe it, but he looked less likely to instigate a spar. Or a massacre. “That was a consequence of leaving yourself wide open in the heat of the moment. It will not happen again, so long as you remember to keep up the barriers that we have created.” He raised his sword again. “Show me what Angeal has taught you.”

No getting out of it, then.

Zack swallowed and adjusted his grip on his sword, then rushed Sephiroth with a yell.

Went for a swing – blocked by the ridiculously long katana. Jumped back and went in again – again, blocked by the katana. Tried to swing for Sephiroth’s neck, but Sephiroth rolled his blade around his shoulders and blocked all attempts to go for his jugular.

Zack even swung around behind Sephiroth and tried to fake him out, then hit his other side, but the Masamune was right where it needed to be to keep Zack’s sword from cutting into Sephiroth’s side.

_-Hm-_

Zack was getting used to hearing Sephiroth’s voice in his head like that, so he didn’t jump when he went for his next swing, which was _also_ blocked. If Sephiroth was trying to psych him out, it wasn’t going to work.

And then Sephiroth went on the offensive.

The fight was over in seconds, although Zack _wanted_ to think that he’d held on for a second or two longer than the Sephiroth glitch that had appeared in the middle of the virtual mission involving the train and disguised Wutai troops.

Except pushing back against the katana _once again_ caused his sword to snap in two, and he was once again at Sephiroth’s mercy.

Sephiroth stopped his katana before it could strike and deal any permanent damage, then dropped his sword from where it rested next to Zack’s neck. “Not good enough.”

Zack frowned at his sword, the hilt and half the blade in one hand and the rest of it lying halfway across the simulator. “I bet if I had a better sword, I would’ve lasted longer.”

“Perhaps. But a sword is useless in the hands of someone without the skill to use it.” Sephiroth sheathed his sword.

Zack’s shoulders dropped. “Guess I’m just getting another one from the armory, huh?”

“I did not say that.”

Zack’s head shot up.

“I agree with your assessment. Standard SOLDIER weapons are meant to be a baseline for Seconds and Thirds who do not have a…personalized weapon.” Sephiroth rested his hand on the Masamune. “As you have been training under Angeal for this long, I would assume that you have a blade in mind that would function as a more suitable weapon.”

“N-nothing specific yet, I just – I want something _heavier._ Longswords are fine, but I think I want something that isn’t…this.” He held up his broken blade.

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. He looked at the half of the blade that was lying on the ground. “I see that Angeal has been an influence on you.”

“Huh? Oh, you mean, because of Angeal’s sword? But he doesn’t use it all the time.” Zack frowned. “He didn’t even let me _touch_ it. He treats it like it’s a physical form of his honor, or something. Any clue why?”

Sephiroth shook his head.

Zack sighed. “Guess I’m never gonna figure _that_ one out…” He shook his head.

He stiffened a moment later when he felt _something_ press up against his mental barrier, and it took him a moment to realize it was Sephiroth. He frowned cautiously, but opened it up _enough_ to let Sephiroth in.

The feeling of betrayal for Angeal’s leaving was _definitely_ still there. Zack almost felt it wash over him, but it was pulled back at the last minute.

_-What are you-- -_

_-Interesting-_

Zack frowned at Sephiroth’s hum. _-Huh?-_

_-It seems our…experience…has caused our minds to adjust to each other-_

_-So…-_ Zack walked over and grabbed the half of the broken blade off the ground. He eyed the clean break in the metal.

 _-So the mental barrier will be needed if we don’t want the other to know anything about current activities, or certain trains of thought-_ Sephiroth paused. _-Which, as we are going to be working together, would only be wise when we sleep. I would recommend continuing to leave them up, until we can trust ourselves to sort each other’s thoughts out-_

_-So what happened in Wutai doesn’t happen again-_

_-So that it doesn’t happen when we are not prepared for it, yes. Fighting in sync with each other could prove to be useful-_

Zack shifted his grip on the hilt of his broken sword. _-I can see that. So…what now? Do we leave it open or-- -_

_-If we are to use it to our advantage, yes. It would be wise to use to do so-_

Sephiroth’s eyes narrowed slightly. Zack could feel that he was considering _something,_ but what it was specifically, he wasn’t entirely sure.

Zack tilted his head and pushed a question at Sephiroth, causing Sephiroth to frown and shake his head.

_-Hojo will no doubt be watching us. If he requests you in the research facilities-- -_

_-Get the barriers up, yeah. We said we were gonna keep him out of the loop, I know-_

Sephiroth nodded. _-Good-_ His gaze moved to the sword in Zack’s hands. _-We will continue training after you have gained a new weapon. There should be heavier swords in the armory-_

Zack perked up. _-Think so?-_

 _-If they don’t, I should think they will soon-_ Sephiroth motioned for Zack to leave the simulator.

Zack grinned, then left the simulator and ran towards the armory. He was going to get a heavier sword, and then he was going to start training with it. He did _not_ want to get caught off-guard if Sephiroth wanted to come at him again.

Judging by the presence at the back of his head, Sephiroth seemed to be at least a little bit amused at the idea.


	10. Life as not-so-usual

“Still nothing?”

Kunsel collapsed into the couch with a sigh and shook his head. “Nope. Whatever’s going on, it looks like Angeal and Genesis have gone to ground. I haven’t picked up on anything.”

Zack sighed and dropped a hand over his eyes. “Angeal, _why_ are you doing this…?”

Kunsel was probably frowning under his helmet. “Whatever it is, it has to have something to do with – with _that_ information.”

Zack peeked out through his fingers as a nondescript SOLDIER moved past. Looked like that one was going out on a mission somewhere. “Ya think so?”

He could feel Sephiroth’s presence humming at the back of his head. He couldn’t tell if Sephiroth was actively listening to his thoughts or not, but they _were_ talking about the other two Firsts. They had been Sephiroth’s friends before they’d vanished into Wutai.

Kunsel nodded. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. They were both loyal to SOLDIER, and they had a friend they usually hung around when they weren’t on missions. The fact that they _left_ Sephiroth without telling him what they are doing makes me worried.”

“And Angeal left _me,_ don’t forget.” Zack frowned. “I just…why did he _do_ that? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“It would make less sense if I wasn’t digging as much,” Kunsel corrected. He pulled his PHS out of his pocket and flipped it open, frowning. “They’re both connected to _him_ somehow, especially since he’s practically disappeared off the map, too.”

Sephiroth’s presence spiked suddenly at the back of Zack’s head. He hid the resulting headache by rubbing his forehead and frowning.

Hollander…the man was still a mystery, and it was one that Zack didn’t like the look of if it made Angeal disappear. “You really think he’s the reason?”

“It makes the most sense. You _have_ been reading the mail I’ve been sending you, right? About the rumored places Hollander may be in?”

Zack remembered the device sitting in his pocket. “Some of it. Not a lot of it really interests me, though.”

Sephiroth had definitely dug through all of it, though. Zack would be surprised if he hadn’t.

_-I have. But you should read the information as well. You may see something that I missed-_

“You should read it,” Kunsel said. “If there’s a chance that you run into either one of them in the field, it will give you an edge. More than the edge that your new sword will give you.”

Hard Edge was leaning against the couch next to Zack. It had been at the back of the armory, gathering dust because nobody had wanted to use it. Maybe because of the strange way the blade was shaped. Didn’t bother Zack too much, though – it was the weight that he’d wanted out of a sword, so he could get used to the blade the more he used it.

“I’ll get to it, no worries. My training’s been running me ragged, that’s all.”

“You’ve got time right now,” Kunsel pointed out.

_-You do-_

_-Ah, come on-_

_-I expect you to have read **all** of them by the time I am ready to test your abilities-_

Zack’s expression shifted. _-…all right, fine-_

_-Good-_

“Yeah, yeah…guess I’ve got some time before Sephiroth drags me off and beats me to a pulp.” Zack pulled the PHS out of his pocket and flipped it open. “…geez, that’s a lot of emails.”

“Get to reading, then.” Kunsel tapped his shoulder, grinning. “I’ve got something I have to go do. Rumor mills don’t start themselves.”

“Just keep me in the loop,” Zack called back as Kunsel got off the couch. “I don’t want to end up with making a mistake like _that_ again.”

“You’ll know what it is when you hear it.”

Zack scowled as Kunsel laughed his way out of hearing range, then opened the first message from Kunsel and started reading.

He was _still_ reading when Sephiroth walked into the lounge with his usual intimidating glare.

“How does Kunsel _find_ all this stuff?” Zack didn’t look up from the PHS as Sephiroth approached. “And I thought his ability to make believable rumors was weird….”

“I told him he would do well as a Turk.”

“Yeah?” Zack looked over the top of his communication device.

Sephiroth seemed slightly amused. “He said working with them would be a hindrance, rather than a help.”

Zack blinked, then frowned. “How does that make any sense? Aren’t the Turks supposed to be _really_ good at digging up information and stuff?”

“They do more than that, Zack.” Sephiroth tilted his head slightly. “Which leads me to assume that your friend is aware of what exactly the Turks are capable of. And _that_ is not easy information to discover, especially when their missions don’t normally coincide with a SOLDIER’s.”

“It’s that hard?”

“Turks are…” Sephiroth trailed off, considering. “You will likely find out soon enough, if you haven’t met any already.”

“Wha – hey!” Zack leapt off the couch. “You can’t just leave it hanging like that! That’s not fair!”

A flicker of a smile crossed Sephiroth’s face. He motioned for Zack to follow him. “Show me your skill with your sword. I want to see _improvement,_ Zack.”

Zack frowned at Sephiroth, but then he felt insistent poking at the back of his mind, goading him forward, and he grabbed Hard Edge’s hilt and followed to the training room.

“It’s only been a week,” Zack said.

“Then I expect to see a week’s worth of improvement.”

Zack felt a flicker of amusement, and then Sephiroth partially walled up the connection, only letting a trickle of awareness pass through. Zack pulled his own walls up a moment later, but it felt different this time. Walling himself up was getting easier, but after the fight in Wutai, it felt weird to block Sephiroth off. He could read Sephiroth better when they were more connected.

The fact that he was getting _used_ to it probably would have alarmed him months ago.

 _-We aren’t meant to share the space of our minds like this-_ Of course Sephiroth could pick up on that. _-We are adjusting to this, and will have to adapt accordingly. Bringing the barrier up to remember what everyone else **knows** would be wise. It wouldn’t do us any good to…merge, only to forget how to disconnect-_

Zack winced at the reminder of the events in Wutai. _-Y-yeah, you’ve got a point there-_

They’d come close a couple times since then, but the alarm of it had yanked Zack out before they started thinking or talking in unison. Actively experimenting with it wasn’t something they had agreed on yet.

_-Remember to pull back. I will not pursue with questions if you wish to be alone. I expect you to do the same for me-_

_-Oh, yeah, that won’t be a problem! I mean, Kunsel likes being alone sometimes, so it’d make sense that you would too-_

_-You are not including yourself in this?-_

_-I like hanging out with people-_

_-Ah-_

Zack couldn’t tell if Sephiroth was only just understanding this, or if he was just amused by it. Well, he wasn’t _mad,_ at least, so that was a good thing.

One of the training rooms was open, and in seconds their swords were crossed with a shockwave of force that almost blew Zack back.

_-Angeal never pushed me this hard!-_

_-Then he clearly did not push hard enough-_ Sephiroth’s eyes narrowed, and he pushed against Zack’s blade.

Hard Edge definitely took Sephiroth’s attack better than the longsword. Zack used the force to jump back before coming in again, bringing his blade in low and swinging upwards.

Sephiroth moved sharply out of the way and came at Zack with the Masamune, swinging it at Zack’s waist. Zack was just barely able to block it, but the blow sent him skidding back a short distance.

_-Are you even holding back?!-_

_-I do not intend to break you-_

_-Gee, thanks-_

The briefest of smirks crossed Sephiroth’s face as they crossed swords again, but it was gone faster than a blink.

Their blades kept clashing and pressing against each other, and with each blow, Zack’s movement of Hard Edge became more precise. He relied equally on the blade’s weight as he did with his own strength.

_-This is a lot better than that toothpick-_

_-Good. Broadswords are a far better class for you than standard longswords-_

Zack snorted. _-Glad to have a second opinion-_

_-But you have to maintain your focus-_

Sephiroth twisted his blade, and suddenly Hard Edge was out of Zack’s hands and stuck in the wall.

“Wha!” Zack stumbled back, looking between his hands and the sword. “How…man, Firsts are in a league all their own, aren’t they?”

Sephiroth’s expression shifted slightly. “Don’t consider yourself weaker than I. You have less experience with a sword than a First, and that is the only difference that is important.”

Zack stared. “Was…was that a _compliment?”_

“It was a comment on your skill,” Sephiroth corrected.

“But – but you just said I’m as strong as a First, even if I’m not as skilled as one! That’s so cool! Thanks, Sephiroth!”

Sephiroth blinked at Zack, who couldn’t help but grin as he felt Sephiroth’s confusion. The big guy wasn’t as intimidating as everyone thought he was. Although, Zack probably only knew that _because_ of the mental connection.

Sephiroth reeled in the emotions Zack was picking up and fixed the Second with a frown. “I expect to continue to see improvements in your skills, Zack. Angeal may have taught you some things, but not everything.” He motioned. “Now – your materia skills. Show me what you know.”

Zack grinned and raised his arm, materia glinting in the bracer. “Don’t mind if I do.”

\----

Unfortunately, their training sessions did not always go uninterrupted. Some days, Hojo found out where they were.

“Ah ha! I should have thought to find you here, considering the other First has made himself scarce.” Hojo clapped his hands together as Zack and Sephiroth jumped back, separating their crossed swords. “Although, why you would choose to fight each other, and not other pairs of SOLDIERs, I have to wonder. You _can_ read each other’s minds and know of the other’s movements, can you not?”

Sephiroth shut himself off immediately, Zack following on his heels. “We are not currently capable of that.”

 _Not without merging, probably._ Zack frowned at the thought. _And no way are we doing **that** anytime soon._

He picked up faint agreement from Sephiroth, who nodded slightly. Hojo wouldn’t be able to pick up the movement.

“Hm. Well, there is always room for improvement, I suppose.” Hojo waved off the neutral-borderline-frown Sephiroth was giving him. “I am going to gather more data from the two of you. Follow me to—”

“Sephiroth! Zack!” Lazard appeared in the training room doorway. “There you two are. I require you in my office.”

Hojo turned sharply and glared at SOLDIER’s director. “Director Lazard, I have arrived here before you, and _I_ require their cooperation in my research.”

“I have a mission for them, and I’m sure they can do this research in a field test just as well as they could in your labs,” Lazard replied.

Hojo snorted. “This is sensitive equipment, and I will _not_ have it ruined by a monster’s guts being splattered all over it.”

_-Damn headsets-_

_-Indeed-_

_-He said something about wanting to shave my head last time, but he didn’t. Any idea why?-_

_-He knows not to touch my head. As we are connected, I have no doubt he considers the potential of the reaction…carrying over-_

_-Oh-_ Well, at least it meant he could keep his hair. Zack would’ve been _really_ unhappy if he’d lost that. He’d been thinking about styling it after Angeal’s….

“I believe missions take precedence over lab work until we find other SOLDIERs with the right capacity to take up positions as Firsts,” Lazard said. “Sephiroth is our _only_ First right now, and even if we were to promote Zack before he was truly ready, you would want him as well, correct? So, you’re going to have to wait for further experimentation until we can manage to get another First. Unless you want to anger the president by keeping Sephiroth out of the public limelight when _he_ wants our General.”

Hojo’s eyes narrowed into slits. “Is that what this is to you?”

“Well, I _am_ aware that President Shinra is going to be requiring Sephiroth for _something_ in the next few days, which is why I need him _now_ for a mission, before the monsters outside of Midgar think to attack the slums in Sector 7.”

Zack looked between Hojo and Lazard with a confused expression that shifted as he remembered what he’d told Lazard on the way back from Wutai.

_-Oh yeah….-_

_-Zack-_

_-May have told him about this. He said he’d keep at least **me** away from Hojo because I came here for SOLDIER, not science stuff. Guess that carries over to you, too! Isn’t that great?-_

Sephiroth seemed unsure about giving Zack a response to the question.

Hojo gritted his teeth and hissed through them like some disgruntled, rabid cat that had just been denied its only chance at spreading a disease. _“Fine._ But I expect them in my labs within the next week, or I will _make sure_ they do not have anything for the next month.”

A feeling of dread grew in Zack’s stomach. He only got sympathy – briefly – from Sephiroth, before the connection was barriered again.

“No promises,” Lazard replied. “A SOLDIER’s life is quite unpredictable.” He motioned for Zack and Sephiroth to follow him, then stepped past Hojo and out into the hall.

The two SOLDIERs exchanged looks before following after him to the elevator.

“There isn’t a monster in the Sector 7 slums,” Lazard said as soon as the elevator doors closed. “And if there is, a few Seconds have missions in the area, so any emergencies that might make themselves known are going to be handled without your presence.”

“Then why gain Hojo’s ire?” Sephiroth asked.

“I _do_ need the two of you.” Lazard frowned at them. “There’s been a severe backlog of paperwork from SOLDIER reports, and while in the past the amount has been near negligible, we are _missing_ the two Firsts who helped keep the office in balance. Your mission, whether you like it or not, is to help me play catch-up this afternoon, or else _someone_ is going to come down on my head for not having today’s missions recorded as of _last week._ ”

Zack and Sephiroth exchanged looks.

“I can see how this would be a potential learning experience.” Sephiroth gave Zack a pointed look.

Zack frowned back. “Do I _look_ like someone who can do paperwork?”

“Not right now. If you are going to become a First, however, you are going to have to learn to do more than just fill out your reports at the end of every mission you undertake. And, as you have not been on a mission in some time, perhaps seeing what your fellow Seconds do on _their_ mission reports will help jog your memory on how to properly file one.”

“I’ve done mission reports just fine! I don’t need a refresher.”

“But _I_ need the help.” Lazard folded his arms as the elevator came to a stop. “Unless you want to go back and see what Hojo wanted with the two of you.”

“I’ll help!” Zack almost jumped out of the elevator. “But I’m not gonna be happy about it.”

“I think it is safe to say that we were not expecting you to be,” Sephiroth replied as he walked past. “Shall we, director?”

“That we shall.”

\----

To say that Hojo was frustrated with current events was a _great understatement._ Not only was he unable to have his two experiments _in his lab_ so that he could _do his research,_ but the director of SOLDIER – a program Hojo had founded with his work! – was actively working against him. The thought of that man, taking his prized experiment and doing something trivial with his abilities, was almost _maddening._

The assistants scattered as Hojo made his way across his research facilities to his private office (which, if he was completely frank, also doubled as his private quarters, because what kind of a scientist would he be if he left his facilities, only to find that something had happened with his experiments in the middle of the night?). He sat at his desk, reached for his research papers, and considered the data that he had managed to glean from Second Class SOLDIER Zack Fair (or Specimen Z), and Specimen S (or First Class SOLDIER Sephiroth).

The connection still seemed to be in its early stages, from what Hojo had been able to glean, and S and Z hadn’t shown any signs of personality changes or anything that suggested a complete merger. He had left them alone for a month after the start of the procedure, hoping that would have given them enough time to start, but perhaps there was some other factor involved that he hadn’t considered. To be human was to err, after all, and Z certainly brought _that_ in spades. Perhaps, if given more time, S would be able to temper that and make Z into a being as equally perfect as S was _capable_ of being.

However, that still did not give him a suitable answer to his question on the Reunion Theory, especially if there was potential that Z was _resisting_ the pull of a mental merger somehow. Neither one seemed to have even registered the existence of Jenova, either, something that made Hojo wonder as he eyed the data from that one and only time he’d managed to get them both in his lab.

“I require something to strengthen the signal between them,” Hojo remarked to himself. “Else they will never know about the call. Unless…perhaps it is time I took a slightly different approach.”

A half-empty notebook was found, and Hojo started drawing up plans, muttering to himself about materials and the like. Even if he were to look up from his work at any point, none of the assistants _dared_ to interrupt him.

The last one had disappeared to the facility in Nibelheim, and no one had heard from him since.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, you need something a little more mundane to give people a breather before hitting people with more action. Not to mention antics between SOLDIER and the Science Department to keep Hojo from his data. :3
> 
> Besides, I wanted to do something with getting Zack a better sword, because it bugged me that he didn't get any different weapons in Crisis Core. A ton of materia, sure, but no new blades other than the Buster sword. The original game did have Hard Edge as a stealable weapon in Shinra, after all. It made sense to me that there'd be one in storage somewhere.


	11. White Trees

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here is where we start to see some of the bigger changes to the plot that I'm making. :3 I could have spent more time between Wutai and Banora, but honestly? I wanted to get to the big events quickly. I mean, pre-FFVII is going to be about 45 chapters long *at least,* according to my outline, and I'm currently writing chapter 39. This thing's gonna be long enough as it is.

A month after Angeal’s disappearance – Zack didn’t want to think of it was a _betrayal_ or _desertion_ , and Sephiroth wasn’t inclined to stop that – Lazard and Hojo were at a stalemate over who exactly could have Zack and Sephiroth on what days of the week for missions or experiments. Being bounced back and forth between them wasn’t something that Zack particularly liked, and with how much time he was spending with Sephiroth strapped down in a chair while Hojo read their brainwaves…he was starting to see why Sephiroth wasn’t inclined to be fond of the scientist, either.

Although, Hojo hadn’t started poking them with needles or cutting them open like he’d done for some of the monsters in the mako tanks he happened to have lying around. Zack didn’t want to think about what _could_ happen if Hojo decided to attempt that. It definitely wouldn’t help make them more mentally connected, so hopefully he wouldn’t. Zack wasn’t keen on finding out if Hojo _would,_ though.

And something told him that Sephiroth wasn’t too keen on it, either.

“Hey! Hey, Zack!” Kunsel gently smacked Zack against his head. “You’re drifting again. Were you even listening?”

“H-huh?” Zack blinked, then shook his head. Conversations with Kunsel usually proved a better distraction than his own worries about what Hojo was _trying_ to do. “Oh. Sorry. It was something about Hollander’s research this time, right?”

“Well, at least you were _half_ listening.” Kunsel huffed. “You’ve been losing focus a lot lately, Zack – you’re okay, right? Nothing’s getting to you?”

Zack frowned. A part of him wanted to melt into the couch. “The only thing ‘getting’ to me is what was going through Angeal’s head to make him disappear like that.”

Kunsel managed to hold back the wince. “Right. Sorry. But as I was saying, there definitely _is_ a connection between Hollander and Angeal. I’m still trying to confirm what exactly it is, but if I manage to find solid evidence, maybe it could shed some light on why Angeal left a month ago. Genesis too, maybe – I’ve seen some proof that there might be connections there, but nothing specific yet. I’m going to need more time before I can say anything with certainty. The fact that Hollander’s disappeared doesn’t exactly help, but it seems to say to me that he knows _something._ ”

“Yeah, I bet.” Sephiroth was being unusually quiet. Kunsel had mentioned both Angeal _and_ Genesis, and the General hadn’t so much as made a peep about it.

Zack gave the question a tentative nudge and found walls as thick as a high security vault.

“Any leads I could look into, maybe?”

Kunsel almost jumped at Zack’s question. “What? You—”

Zack’s PHS started ringing, making _Zack_ jump.

“You should probably get that.” Kunsel seemed glad for a change in subject.

Zack frowned at him, but answered the call anyway.

_::SOLDIER Second Class Zack?::_

The voice was unfamiliar, but sounded like a professional at _something_ in Shinra.

“That would be me,” Zack replied, frowning. “Who is this?”

_::Director Lazard wants to see you. Go to the briefing room::_

That was _not_ an introduction. “Hey! Wait!”

Too late – whoever it was had hung up.

Zack frowned at the PHS. “Who _was_ that?”

“What’d they say?” Kunsel asked.

“Gotta go meet Lazard for…something, apparently.” Zack pushed himself off the couch and grabbed Hard Edge from where it was leaning against the furniture. “Gotta go. Let me know if there’s anything I can help with, okay?”

“Sure thing, Zack.”

Lazard wanting him could mean anything from more backlogged paperwork to a half-decent mission, but there was also a glimmer of hope that Zack wanted to hold onto.

When Zack got to the briefing room, one question in particular was on his mind, but that died as soon as he saw Sephiroth standing with a man wearing a suit and with dark hair pulled back in a short ponytail.

“Any—”

_-Nothing on Angeal yet-_ Sephiroth gave Zack a look, cutting off the question.

“Oh.” Zack frowned. “Then…what’s going on?”

The man in the suit raised an eyebrow at Zack, but said nothing.

“A new assignment.” Lazard rose from his seat at the table. “You and Sephiroth will be going to the hometown of our missing SOLDIER First Class, Genesis.”

“Huh?”

“According to the parents, they’ve had no contact with Genesis whatsoever.” Lazard frowned, looking stern. “But, they can’t be trusted.”

“Why?”

Lazard paused, then looked at Zack like he’d suddenly lost a couple inches. “They’re his _family_.”

Zack frowned for a moment, but then what Lazard _wasn’t_ saying hit him. “Oh. _Oh,_ yeah, I guess that makes sense. If they think they’re protecting him, then they’re not gonna tell us where he’s at.”

Sephiroth inclined his head at that, Zack sensing his curiosity as he did so.

“Exactly. I had already dispatched some staff, but we’ve lost contact. I want you two to go and investigate. He will go with you.” Lazard nodded to the man next to Sephiroth.

The man nodded a short greeting. “Tseng, of the Turks.”

_Turks?_

As in the spying, potentially assassinating, information-gathering Turks?

“This job is looking really gloomy,” Zack muttered.

Sephiroth sent back a sense of confirmation – both because of Zack’s knowledge of the Turks, _and_ his sense of the mission. He _was_ looking rather stiff, so it was likely he wasn’t keen on what they were going to be doing.

Lazard shifted to hide the expression that crossed his face. Zack wasn’t sure if the director agreed with him, or was amused _by_ him.

“Let me know when you’re ready to go,” Tseng said. “I assume you have some preparations to make, as you were called here on short notice.”

“Since I don’t have my materia on me, yeah, I do.” Zack walked to the door. “Meet you back here in ten?”

He didn’t wait to see Tseng’s or Sephiroth’s response, which was probably a good idea, because his PHS rang as soon as he walked out of the briefing room.

“Zack speaking.”

_::Hey, Zack – Kunsel here. Did you read my mail?::_

“I just got out of a meeting, Kunsel, do you think I had time to read it?” Zack frowned. “I’ve got a mission I gotta go on; I’ll see about reading it later.”

_::Ah, gotcha. Think we can talk now, then?::_

“Maybe, if you keep it short. I’ve gotta get my materia and go.”

“This won’t take long.”

Zack looked up and spotted Kunsel walking towards him. They hung up, and Kunsel swung around on one foot to fall in step next to Zack.

“The email I sent is mostly just rambling about Angeal,” Kunsel admitted. “But it shows a lot about his character, too. I don’t think that he deserted SOLDIER completely willingly. Genesis and Hollander probably forced him to somehow.”

“You sure?” Zack frowned. _But why would Genesis and Hollander force Angeal to leave?_

Sephiroth’s presence spiked slightly at the back of his mind. Apparently, he was planning on listening in. Not that Zack normally _minded,_ but eavesdropping wasn’t exactly nice without a warning first.

“Pretty positive. He wouldn’t just abandon SOLDIER on a whim. All things considered, there’s something happening below the surface that I’ve got yet to find. I hope I _can_ find it, so that Angeal can come back. Things are different without him here, and I don’t think it’s a good kind.”

_-Yeah, if we know what’s going on, then Angeal might not continue with the disappearing act-_

_-Agreed-_ came Sephiroth’s voice.

Zack grinned. “If you can find anything, let me and Sephiroth know. I want to find him and bring him back, whether or not we get information like that.”

“Will do, man.”

\----

Turned out Tseng wasn’t all that much of a conversationalist on the helicopter ride to Banora. It gave Zack a moment to read Kunsel’s email, at least, but it contained what Kunsel had said it would, so he didn’t think much of it. He already knew what Kunsel was talking about, anyway, since he’d seen Angeal’s personality first-hand.

As had Sephiroth, but he spent the helicopter ride over completely walled off from Zack, so they weren’t able to mentally converse about much of anything.

All _that_ meant was that Zack found himself thinking in circles about why Sephiroth had wanted Zack to come along on this mission, instead of making Zack take his place or going alone. They were investigating a friend’s family, right? So, was this something Sephiroth _wanted_ to do, or had considered _refusing_ to do?

Thinking in circles definitely kept him busy until they uneventfully landed, but a part of Zack wished he’d had something _better_ to do than think himself in circles.

The countryside landscape of Banora looked pretty quiet, calm, and almost normal. “Almost” just because of the arch-shaped, white trees that were everywhere. Zack hadn’t seen anything like them.

“So, this is Genesis’ hometown?” Zack looked up as they walked under a group of arching trees. It looked like there were fruits growing on the branches – purple-ish-white apple-shaped things. “They’ve got some weird-looking trees.”

“They’re Banora Whites,” Tseng said. He definitely didn’t sound like he wanted to have a conversation about something that had nothing to do with the mission, but guessed that questions were going to come at him no matter what he did. “The locals refer to the fruits they bear as dumbapples.”

“Dumbapples, dumbapples…that’s kinda – waaaait, this is Banora, isn’t it? Angeal’s hometown? He told me about dumbapples once.” In Wutai, before he’d gone and vanished, but Zack didn’t need to say that particular detail.

“Correct. Genesis and Angeal have known each other for a long time.”

Sephiroth inclined his head slightly at Tseng’s statement.

 _The plot thickens_. Zack frowned. “You mean, they were friends before they went to SOLDIER?”

If Tseng was planning on answering that, he didn’t get a chance to.

Zack barely caught the flash of steel out of the corner of his eye before his own sword was drawn to block the incoming attack. It took him a moment to recognize the uniform. “Genesis copies!”

Only two of them this time, unlike the four that had jumped on him at once in Wutai. Despite Kunsel’s claims that the original Genesis used materia and was practically immune to fire, these copies weren’t able to stand for long against a few well-timed blasts of magic and Zack’s new, heavier sword, much less Sephiroth’s katana.

“I saw these guys in Wutai,” Zack told Tseng as he rested Hard Edge against his back. “Angeal was fighting them, too, before he…”

Zack didn’t want to say more than that, but Tseng seemed to understand what he was getting at.

“So, they are here.” Tseng sounded thoughtful, then frowned. “We haven’t seen any of the locals. These copies may have taken control of the town, using the large arsenal of weapons Genesis took with him when he deserted.”

Sephiroth frowned at the mention of an arsenal.

Zack frowned as well. “That doesn’t sound good…”

“It doesn’t,” Tseng agreed. “The president’s orders are to retrieve or destroy the stolen weapons immediately upon discovery.”

Now, why did Sephiroth decide to bring Zack along for this? It seemed so easy!

“Leave it to me.” Zack nodded. More time to get used to Hard Edge, even if it was fighting against reminders that Angeal had disappeared.

Tseng motioned for the SOLDIERs to go on ahead, which Zack promptly did. More Genesis copies attempted to lunge at them from the trees, but Zack’s sword cut them down with ease. He definitely felt better about using it than he had before, but the heavier blade wasn’t as quick as the standard longsword. At least it wasn’t going to break into pieces anytime soon.

Sephiroth, still mentally blocked from Zack, moved with the usual ease that a First of his caliber carried. Any copies that went after him went down before they could so much as twitch their swords in his direction.

Fight finished, Zack kept moving, sword in hand in case another group decided to show up. The fact that his PHS decided to go off right then and there almost made him throw his sword into the nearest tree, but he regained his composure a moment later.

“Should you really be looking at that now?” Tseng frowned as Zack pulled out the device and checked his mail.

“It’s from Kunsel,” Zack replied. “He gives me some interesting stuff sometimes.” He read through the mail and frowned. “…Huh.”

Sephiroth’s presence nudged against Zack, making the Second jump. He hadn’t even noticed the barrier go down, when had that—

 _-This confirms my suspicion that they could not have lived on just the local apple production, if their harvest wasn’t at a set time-_ Sephiroth frowned as he glanced at Zack’s PHS. _-There must be something else here, if the locals are being paid to keep quiet-_

_-You think that’s what the subsidies are for?-_

_-It is certainly likely-_ Sephiroth moved ahead of Zack, one hand resting on a temporarily sheathed katana. _-We aren’t done drawing them out yet. Standing still will only keep us a target-_

 _-Right-_ The PHS went back in his pocket, and Zack followed after Sephiroth.

“Second Class Kunsel is not important to the mission,” Tseng said.

“No, but the stuff he tells me is interesting.” Zack adjusted his grip on his sword as something else shifted in the trees. “Here comes company again; you ready?”

Tseng didn’t have a chance to answer before another pair of Genesis copies rushed them.

\----

One spider tank and a couple more Genesis copies later, and Tseng started giving Zack more things to think about as they stood in front of Genesis’ parents’ home.

Stolen Shinra technology that turned SOLDIERs and monsters into Genesis copies? Confirmation that Angeal and Genesis were _definitely_ best friends as they grew up in Banora?

_-It seems likely Genesis left with not only weapons, but lab equipment as well. That leads me to believe that Hollander is doing more than just taking an ‘extended vacation’-_

Sephiroth’s statement only made the unease in Zack’s stomach grow.

_-But **why?** We’re not getting any answers like this! Especially since everything’s making it look like Genesis got Angeal to join him or something!-_

Tseng cleared his throat. “I would prefer to continue to focus on the mission, rather than leave you to your own thoughts.” He started walking to a pile of rocks and disturb earth sitting under a tree. “Go find Angeal’s house. I will check things around here.”

“Check what?” Zack asked.

 _-Zack-_ Sephiroth sent him a look, then walked past the large house that had once been Genesis’ home, and towards the circle of buildings that were nearby.

Zack moved to catch up with him. _-What did Tseng mean when he said you wanted me to come along for this? Is it because Angeal AND Genesis grew up here?-_

 _-I had originally considered not coming entirely-_ Sephiroth walked towards one of the houses and considered the door, only to step back as it was broken down from the inside by a pair of large, hairless dogs with tentacles on their backs. He beheaded one with a flick of his sword, leaving Zack to handle the other one.

_-Why?-_

Sephiroth stopped in front of the next door over and frowned at Zack as he finished off the dog. He didn’t respond so much in words as he did in feelings, but the point was gotten across quickly.

Angeal and Genesis had both been Sephiroth’s friends before this event. While he still wanted to see them alive and well, he had his loyalties to Shinra as well. It was a conflicted status that made the kind of situation that brought frying pans and camp fires to Zack’s mind.

More tentacle-dogs and Genesis copies burst out of the next two houses they checked, making Zack more concerned for the people who had been living in town.

_-You don’t think they’re-- -_

_-There is no one else in Banora, Zack. I would say it is highly likely-_

_-This just keeps getting gloomier and gloomier-_ Zack sighed heavily and got to the last house ahead of Angeal. _-Can’t we just find **someone** who isn’t a Genesis copy?_

As if on cue, when Zack opened the door to _this_ house, he and Sephiroth were met with the sight of an older woman sitting at a kitchen table.

She seemed confused and surprised at the sight of him. “Can I help you?”

It took Zack a moment to remember his manners. “Uh, greetings, ma’am. Are you…Angeal’s mother?”

Sephiroth stood behind Zack in the doorway, but his attention didn’t seem to be on her. He raised an eyebrow at Zack regardless. _-Perhaps you should give her your name as well?-_

 _-Oh, right-_ “My name is Zack. A-and this is General Sephiroth.”

The woman considered Zack for a moment, then realization crossed her face. “Are you Zack, the puppy?”

_-How did-- -_

“How do you know about that?!” Zack yelped. Behind him, Sephiroth held back a laugh, but the amusement settled at the back of Zack’s mind regardless.

She laughed. “My son wrote to me once about you. ’Zero attention span, restless as a little puppy.’”

Zack groaned. “Thanks, Angeal….”

_-You never complained about it before-_

_-Because I didn’t know **why** he called me that-_

“You two aren’t…here together with Genesis, are you?”

Sephiroth’s expression hardened.

“No, we’re not.” Zack shook his head. Sephiroth didn’t seem keen on answering _that_ question, so he figured speaking for both of them wasn’t a problem. “Don’t worry.”

“We are merely here to investigate his presence in the area,” Sephiroth said with controlled neutrality.

Angeal’s mother nodded. “What is happening with my son? Do either of you know?”

“We’re…” Zack glanced back at Sephiroth, but he wasn’t looking at the woman. “We’re not really sure.”

“Can you tell us about Genesis’ presence here?” Sephiroth asked.

Angeal’s mother didn’t look happy at the answer, or the question that followed. “Genesis came back here a month ago, with an army of cohorts.” She bowed her head. “And they proceeded to take the lives of many townspeople.”

 _-But why leave her alive?-_ There was a grimness to Sephiroth’s question.

“Genesis…he used to be such a good boy,” Angeal’s mother remarked. “I don’t know what changed in him.”

“Is Angeal…?” Zack trailed off. If Genesis’ copies were around, and Angeal had potentially disappeared because Genesis was a friend….

“He came here.” Angeal’s mother looked to something on the wall. “But…he left his sword, and went off somewhere.”

“He what?” Zack turned his head sharply and stared at the Buster sword, leaning against the wall. Sephiroth’s presence buzzed the back of his head with something akin to muted concern.

“That sword represents our family’s honor,” the woman explained.

“I see.” There was that honor thing again, but now it felt different to Zack. Probably because the sword meant something different to Angeal than SOLDIER honor did. “I’d always wondered. He never uses this sword, really ever.”

 _-Use brings about wear, tear, and rust-_ Sephiroth thought dryly. Zack almost snorted in response.

“We will take care of Angeal.” Sephiroth nodded to Angeal’s mother. “You should go find a safer place to be in the meantime.”

“You don’t need to be concerned about me. Genesis cannot harm me.”

Zack blinked in confusion, but Sephiroth nodded back and motioned for the Second to follow him out of the house.

Zack closed the door behind them. “Any idea what she meant by that?”

“Perhaps some fondness for her from childhood,” Sephiroth suggested. “He could have spared her, just as he could have spared his parents.”

Zack sensed something at the back of his mind and frowned. “What else are you—”

A crash resounded from somewhere nearby, catching their attention. Three more Genesis copies ran up from a section of broken fencing.

Sephiroth moved ahead before Zack had even a moment to react; two of them were down by the time Zack caught up, and Sephiroth left the third to him.

“You don’t have to take all the fun bits, you know,” Zack muttered. “I could’ve taken on two of them just _fine.”_

“I’m sure,” Sephiroth replied.

A PHS went off. Zack started to reach for his, but Sephiroth already had his up by his ear by the time Zack had pulled his out of his pocket.

Zack stuck his back in his pocket with a frown as Sephiroth’s expression shifted from careful neutrality to a frown.

 _-Tseng-_ Sephiroth’s thoughts seemed to say. Zack was starting to have an easier time reading the other’s thoughts if he could pick that up.

“A potential headquarters,” Sephiroth remarked. A pause, then a nod. “Understood.”

“Was that—”

“The Genesis copies are located in a factory.” Sephiroth pocketed the PHS. “We will meet Tseng outside of it.”

“Aah, okay.” A grin started to cross Zack’s face.

Sephiroth frowned at him. _-We will not be taking a frontal assault with the information we have-_

_-Aaw, come on! They’re just asking for it-_

_-No. Let us exchange information with Tseng **first** -_ Sephiroth eyed the fence the Genesis copies had knocked over, then started walking towards it and the path on the other side.

Zack scowled, then followed after Sephiroth. _-Fiiiine-_

_-Were you always this impatient to fight?-_

_-The hero’s gotta make a grand, dramatic entrance to save the day! That’s how it always goes in the stories, anyway-_

_-We are not in a story, Zack. We are-- -_

Sephiroth’s train of thought was cut off abruptly as a flying air battery – a Heli Gunner – flew down at them and took aim.

Zack was slower than Sephiroth was at bringing his sword up, but not by much. The fact that this thing came down to where they were, rather than staying out of sword range, suggested the machine’s AI wasn’t programmed well enough to stay a safe distance from the two SOLDIERs.

 _-It intends to kill us all the same, Zack-_ Sephiroth ducked under and slashed upwards, cutting into the connecting joints of one of the four “legs” the unit had. Another slash, and the leg was sent flying towards one of the rocky cliff walls that surrounded the town.

 _-Yeah, but you’d think it’d be smarter about it-_ Zack jumped up and swung his sword down, chopping through another of the appendages. _-It’s not like we can **fly** -_

The two of them stabbed the robot through its core and kicked it off their blades, sending it into a cliff wall, where it exploded.

_-Although it might’ve done that if it was just one of us-_

_-Mm, perhaps-_

They sheathed their swords and moved further up the path, then up an incline when the path split. Their PHSs alerted them to an email on the way up, but they didn’t stop to see the message. It could be read later, even if it might have been interesting information from Kunsel.

The cliff gave them a good view of the factory, glass roof and all, as they approached the area where Tseng was kneeling over the edge closest to the building.

“Genesis’ parents were buried in that grave,” Tseng said as they approached. A flicker of alarm passed from Zack to Sephiroth, but that wasn’t enough to knock them off-balance like Angeal’s betrayal a month ago.

“His own family?” Zack asked in shock.

“We can’t expect reason from him.” Tseng looked up at them. “What about Angeal?”

“He left his sword with his mother, but wasn’t present himself.” Sephiroth frowned.

“You’ve got to give me time!” Zack looked between Sephiroth and Tseng. “If I find Angeal, I can talk to him. If I can convince him, maybe Genesis will come back, too.”

Zack’s great hope was what pushed Sephiroth’s presence further back, making them not so in sync. Sephiroth noticed the mental shift and tilted his head slightly, while Zack shifted his stance slightly.

“Whatever it is that’s going on, we can help them work it out,” Zack added.

Tseng moved his gaze to Zack. “I understand now why Sephiroth chose you.”

“Huh?”

“Genesis and Angeal were your only friends.” Tseng looked at Sephiroth. “Correct?”

Sephiroth’s expression became more neutral at the question, but he nodded. Zack noticed and mentally shifted towards him, only to find that he’d been walled out.

_-Hey!-_

“You don’t intend to fight them, either.” Tseng paused. “However, you still came on this mission, even after recommending Zack. I can’t claim to understand your line of decision to come, but I assume you have your own reasons for this.”

Sephiroth nodded again.

“W-well, Angeal is _my_ friend, too!” Zack frowned at the both of them. Why did Sephiroth shut him out _now?_ If they ran into either Angeal _or_ Genesis, being able to read each other might be a good idea.

“Which is why I assume Sephiroth is counting on _you_ to help him bring them both back.” Teng was looking at Zack again, then rose from his crouch. “Time is short. We need to infiltrate the factory and discover what the Genesis copies are doing inside.”

Zack looked at the glass roof of the factory and grinned. “Way ahead of you!”

“Zack—”

Zack took off at a run and jumped for the glass roof. What better way to break in than doing it literally?


	12. In Sync

The shattering of the glass ceiling was the only thing that hid Zack’s landing on the metal catwalk. “Infiltration successful!”

Three sets of footsteps ran towards him, and Zack grabbed Hard Edge as Sephiroth and Tseng landed next to and behind him. The three Genesis copies coming at them paused out of reach of their swords.

 _-An infiltration is far quieter than this, Zack-_ Sephiroth was gently scolding.

_-There’s no time to be sneaky when we’ve got to find Angeal!-_

“Go,” Sephiroth said to Tseng, rather than answering Zack. “We will take care of things here.”

Tseng ran off, and they rushed the Genesis copies, swords at the ready in their own styles. As the fight progressed, however, Zack’s sword started to move in ways that were more familiar to Sephiroth.

When the third Genesis copy fell, they stood there for a moment, glancing at each other in curious contemplation.

“It’s just like—”

“—in Wutai,” Sephiroth finished before Zack could. That was a strange sensation, knowing what was going to be said before it was said.

A part of Zack didn’t like it, but…there was a way that they flowed together, somehow, that felt _right_.

“Zack, Sephiroth,” Tseng called from below. “Get down here, and watch out for more of those copies.”

They nodded, then turned to follow after Tseng down the platforms to the ground floor. While some copies littered the area – downed by Tseng’s own hand, no doubt – others jumped at them from behind piles of boxes scattered on the platforms. Clearly, they were expecting someone to attempt to break in.

Unfortunately for _them,_ the copies were not expecting Zack and Sephiroth to move with strange efficiency, taking down the copies without so much as a word of warning to each other.

Sephiroth and Zack took out two at the same time, with similar but different attacks. The third of the copies lunged for Sephiroth, only to find himself skewered by Hard Edge before twin blades could come down on Sephiroth’s back.

Sephiroth didn’t offer Zack a visible glance as they made their way to the ground floor, but the feeling of thanks for watching his back was certainly felt.

Zack offered Sephiroth a grin and a _-No problem!-_ before they ran into their next opponents. A whole horde of Genesis copies was waiting for them on the ground floor, as well as another Heli Gunner.

Zack brought his sword up in his familiar fighting stance, while Sephiroth held his blade up next to his head.

**_-Go-_ **

The Genesis copies couldn’t stand for long under the twin onslaught. The flying war machine was expected to give them trouble, but the Genesis copies were actually starting to use spells and materia, now. Even if it was only Blizzard they were casting, the copies needed to be handled before they could focus on the spinning blade trap that wanted to take off their heads.

Zack ducked as the Heli Gunner passed over him; he raised his sword and slashed into the metal before turning his attention to the next copy. Sephiroth had already downed another in the time it took for Zack to avoid taking damage.

There was the flare of a Cure, and strength that had been sapped by the constant Blizzards and swords made Zack grin before he took out the Genesis copy in front of him.

**_-This is a challenge, but they’re not that bad. For now, but that does not mean we are allowed to lower our guards-_ **

The Heli Gunner continued to cross their paths, and they took a swing or two at it, but the copies went down first, and faster. Being made of flesh and blood and not steel and wiring made all the difference as to what fell to a sword faster.

“This way!” Tseng called from across the open factory floor. He disappeared into an open doorway.

They followed after him, pausing only to make sure neither was going to collapse at any moment. The fight had been exhausting for Zack, but not for Sephiroth, and while Zack could feel his own exhaustion, it was difficult to separate that from Sephiroth’s calm energy.

**_-We’ll have to pull back soon. Understanding this state is also important, but testing it out on the field isn’t a wise idea. Strong emotions seem to do what is needed-_ **

Getting one of them to feel something that strongly was going to have to wait. Tseng had just gone ahead alone, and they needed to catch up with him before _he_ ended up jumped by copies.

The room opened up into what looked like an office, littered with boxes that likely contained what the factory was _meant_ to be producing. Tseng was standing at the desk, looking over the still-functioning computer.

“It looks like the copies are being made here.” Tseng didn’t look up.

**“That explains the large number we faced.”**

“Yes, it—” Tseng looked up sharply and stared at them. He looked between Zack and Sephiroth, looking more unnerved before he managed to school his expression back into something more neutral.

**_-We’ll have to be careful about speaking aloud in the future like this. Guess we talk in unison when we’re in sync-_ **

“…it certainly does, yes.” Tseng looked back at the computer, pausing to glance at Zack and Sephiroth again. “Check the second floor. Genesis may be there.” He pointed to the door on the other side of the room.

They looked over and nodded, then walked to the doorway. A questioning feeling arose from Zack about Genesis – how the man fought, what he was _like,_ what it might take to talk him down—

What Sephiroth sent Zack back covered two of the three. Genesis was a materia user with a flare for the dramatics. Talking him down was not going to be easy, if there was even a chance of that happening.

**_-Should we be like this in case he wants a fight? I/Zack doesn’t know how he fights. I/Sephiroth can handle that; the ability to warn each other of his movements will give us an edge if he attempts anything-_ **

Thinking separate but simultaneous thoughts about each other was a little headache-inducing, but not enough now to pull them completely apart. They settled back together moments later, hopefully prepared for anything that could come at a moment’s notice.

As they entered the room on the second floor, separated from the large area they’d been in on arrival, a voice familiar-but-not hit their ears with words that made them frown for two different reasons.

“’Infinite in mystery is the gift of the goddess. /We seek it thus, and take to the sky. /Ripples form on the water’s surface. /The wandering soul knows no rest.’”

**_-LOVELESS. Which means Genesis is-- -_ **

Sure enough, on the other side of the room, under a window, was a man dressed in red, reading from a worn-looking book. He looked at them as they eyed him with curious caution – Sephiroth’s hand was on his sword, but it wasn’t drawn, and Zack wasn’t reaching for his just yet.

Genesis’ mouth quirked upwards in a smirk. “I can’t say I was expecting to see the puppy _and_ you here, Sephiroth.”

Sephiroth inclined his head while Zack’s eyes narrowed. Zack’s annoyance at the nickname _not_ coming from Angeal was quietly smothered by Sephiroth’s calm.

**_-We can’t lose our focus here. Right; we want to talk him into coming back-_ **

Footsteps rang behind them, and Tseng quickly joined them before his attention turned to a tank. They followed his movements with their eyes and noticed the figure inside the tank.

A Genesis copy.

“The grave at the house.” Tseng turned to Genesis. “We found the remains of _our_ people there as well.”

 ** _-The staff Lazard mentioned-_** They frowned at Genesis.

“It didn’t take much to have them send false reports,” Genesis said casually. “Just some mild threats.”

 **“It’s likely your parents would have done that anyway,”** they said. Zack’s voice came through louder, more angry that Genesis had killed his family than disapproving. **“Why kill the people who raised you?”**

Genesis stared at them with a blank expression. He raised an eyebrow. “That is quite the act. Have you been spending enough time with the puppy that you think on the same wavelength, Sephiroth?”

**_-Hitting a bit too close to the truth-_ **

“Well, no matter. As for your question, my ‘parents’ betrayed me. They had always betrayed me from the very beginning.”

They frowned as Genesis rose to his feet and dusted himself off.

“What would you know anyway…” Genesis raised a hand. “Shinra lapdogs!”

The blast of fire that followed almost took Tseng out, except Sephiroth moved to intercept with a flick of his wrist and an Ice spell that made the fireball dissipate in a flash of steam. Zack drew Hard Edge and was about to rush for Genesis with Sephiroth at his back, except someone else rushed in and wrestled Hard Edge from Zack’s grip.

**_-Angeal!-_ **

“Welcome, partner.” Genesis spread his arms with a knowing smile.

Angeal’s expression hardened, and he raised Hard Edge and pointed it at Genesis.

“I see. So, you’ve finally made your decision.” Genesis glanced at Sephiroth, then back to Angeal. “I’ll respect your wishes, old friend. However…can you _really_ live on that side?”

 **“We would appreciate some _answers,_ Genesis, Angeal.”** Sephiroth’s voice came through more now, more pointed, angered. **“Why are you doing this?”**

Angeal stiffened and turned sharply to look between Zack and Sephiroth as he lowered Hard Edge from an attacking position. “You—”

**“We can move out of sync at any time, Angeal. I’m/Zack is fine.”**

They didn’t know if they truly _could,_ not really, but it was better to make sure that Angeal didn’t panic over Zack.

“You know something about this?” Genesis approached them, glancing at Tseng before moving his attention back to the three SOLDIERs. Tseng had the sense to stay out of the line of fire, at least, but he was watching the conversation with interest. It meant that keeping their connection a secret from the Turk was going to be impossible.

Maybe letting Genesis knock him out would have helped keep that secret for a little longer.

“Hojo,” Angeal said. “The headaches Zack and Sephiroth both suffered from resulted in…this.”

Genesis’ expression hardened. “I see.”

 **“It’s not something we asked for, but right now we want answers from _you._ ” **Their eyes narrowed at Genesis and Angeal. **“Leaving without an explanation for us wasn’t very wise of you.”**

Angeal huffed, then shifted his grip on Hard Edge and handed the blade back to Zack. He was eyeing Sephiroth’s grip on Masamune as he did, no doubt considering what could happen if he tried to attack now. “It has nothing to do with the two of you.”

Zack frowned. Sephiroth’s eyes narrowed.

**“You’re our _friends._ Did you really think you could just up and leave without _telling us what was going on?”_**

That made Angeal flinch.

Genesis’ expression wavered, but only for a moment. “And have you report our activities to the president? Or have the Turk do it?” He motioned to Tseng, who hadn’t moved from his spot next to the tank. “I think not. We have our own reasons to fly where we wish, Sephiroth, and you will have no part to play in it.”

“We do owe an explanation, on that we can agree,” Angeal said. “However…” He sighed and shook his head. “This doesn’t involve you directly. I’m sorry.”

A flash of anger crossed Zack’s and Sephiroth’s faces in an instant. **“That’s no excuse!”**

“Zack—”

**“We’re your friends, and that is _supposed_ to mean you can trust us with things like this. We could have talked things out _without_ you leaving Shinra. Do not paint yourselves as the ones on higher ground here – you left us high and dry!”**

“You have no reason to get involved,” Genesis said pointedly. He waved a hand and started walking away. “Let us leave Hojo’s experiments where they stand, Angeal. We must fly, for we have other places to be.”

Tseng started to move after Genesis. “You—”

A fireball went off before Sephiroth or Zack could expect it this time, sending Tseng flying back. The wave of alarm that resulted from Zack was almost too much for Sephiroth to handle, being as controlled as he normally was, but it was still enough to knock them out of sync.

_-Tseng will be fine-_

_-But-- -_

_-He is a Turk. He has dealt with far worse-_

“Genesis!” Angeal glared after him, then looked to Sephiroth and Zack. “We can’t stay. I have no doubt that Shinra will do what they can to wipe Banora off the map, especially if Genesis and I don’t come back together.”

Zack stepped forward. “You’re not—”

Angeal shifted when he noticed Sephiroth not speaking with Zack. “So, you _can_ separate. Good.” He shook his head. “I can’t go back with you. Genesis promised answers.”

“Answers for _what?_ ”

“Angeal, your mother lives here still.” Sephiroth frowned. “I would assume you want her somewhere safe, before Banora is destroyed?”

Angeal started at the question, then hesitated. He shook his head. “Don’t worry about her.”

Sephiroth almost winced at the alarm that exploded from Zack. The Second lunged forward and grabbed Angeal’s sword harness straps immediately.

“What the hell did you do?! Don’t tell me you killed her like—”

“No!” Angeal didn’t push Zack off, but he looked horrified at the implications Zack had seen. “No. I didn’t touch her, and neither did Genesis or his copies.”

“But, then…”

_-Suicide-_

Zack looked at Sephiroth sharply as the thought crossed between them. _-What?-_

Angeal saw the look on Sephiroth’s face and looked away. He sighed, quietly. “My mother did not want to continue to live. And neither can the son.”

That got a punch to the jaw from Zack, the hit strong enough to send Angeal stumbling back. The flash of anger probably would have sent Sephiroth stumbling, had this been weeks earlier, when they were less experienced with each other. “What are you talking about?! What’s going on here?!”

“We are getting more questions than answers, Angeal,” Sephiroth warned. “Is there _anything_ you can tell us?”

Angeal hesitated, then shook his head. “It has something to do with Hollander. That’s all I’m willing to tell you.”

“Willing? Or _able?_ ”

Angeal shook his head again. “I know it isn’t entirely honorable to keep secrets from you like this, but you have to trust me. The only way we can get answers is if we work outside of Shinra.”

_-Betcha 5 gil Kunsel will have answers faster-_

_-Now is not the time for gambling, Zack-_

Sephiroth said aloud, “You do realize what this means for you.”

“Of course I do.” Angeal glanced at Tseng, who was starting to recover from his fireball to the face. “Get out of Banora before an airstrike is called in. We will be gone by then.”

He turned and ran out of the factory as Tseng rose to his feet.

“You do realize you will be seen as possible collaborators in their desertion,” Tseng said.

“What?!” Zack jolted. “But we aren’t – I mean – we’re trying to convince them to come _back,_ Tseng! How can you say something like that?!”

“You didn’t do a very good job of it.” Tseng frowned.

“Clearly, they aren’t ready to listen,” Sephiroth replied.

Tseng met Sephiroth’s gaze with a deep frown. “You will be reprimanded for this.”

“Uh….” Zack pointed in the direction Angeal and Genesis had disappeared. “Shouldn’t we go? Angeal said something about an _airstrike?”_

“Standard procedure to eliminate all mistreatment of company property.” Tseng paused, and his eyes seemed to flicker to the factory’s roof for a moment. “We will continue this conversation in the helicopter. Let’s move – quickly.”

Tseng led the way out of the factory, now empty without all the copies running around in it. Zack felt Sephiroth’s silence and reached out with a tentative question as they stepped outside.

_-Are you gonna be okay?-_

Sephiroth didn’t visibly shift at the question. _-I will be fine-_

_-Yeah, see, something tells me you’re-- -_

_-Zack. I **will be** fine-_

Zack took the hint and pulled back, but he didn’t block himself off. After they’d fallen in sync in the factory, it felt wrong to put a wall between them, as strange as that thought was.

They pushed out of the factory and caught sight of Genesis standing alone with his back to them, Angeal nowhere in sight.

“Genesis!” Zack moved forward. “What kind of answers are you helping Angeal find? What does it have to do with Hollander?”

“Hollander?” Genesis laughed, but the sound was bitter and hollow, nothing like the sound that Sephiroth remembered. “The answers I have found say that we are _monsters._ ”

“What does that—”

Zack was cut off abruptly as Genesis threw out his left arm, and a large black wing with a dip in the middle unfurled from _nowhere_ with a scattering of black feathers.

Sephiroth’s breath caught in time with Zack’s. Even Tseng seemed at a loss for words.

Genesis glanced back at them. “We have _neither_ dreams, _nor_ honor.”

Sephiroth moved, reaching forward. “Genesis—”

He didn’t get close enough to grab the redhead in time.

There was a blur of movement, and Genesis was gone in a flash of red and black, taking to the sky and leaving feathers behind him as he flew off.

 _-…what did Hollander **do?-**_ Zack caught one of the feathers as it drifted down, frowning.

 _-An excellent question-_ Sephiroth’s eyes narrowed as he watched Genesis, and his giant wing, retreat quickly to the horizon.

“We have to report this,” Tseng muttered. “The airstrike is coming. Let’s go back to the helicopter.”

\----

Back in Sephiroth’s office, Zack was pacing while Sephiroth watched him with those intent cat eyes, hands clasped in front of his face.

_-I just – Hollander? **Seriously?** We knew they were connected somehow, but – aaagh, I wish Kunsel would find something more than he has already! I wanna know what he knows about Angeal and Genesis that we don’t!-_

_-It is likely that his movements as of late are somewhat related to what has been happening to Genesis, as well as Angeal-_ Sephiroth frowned and pulled out his PHS, scanning through the emails that the Second had sent. _-Kunsel **did** note Hollander spending some time in Banora. It seems certain that he is the reason that Genesis had any scientific equipment at all-_

Zack stopped pacing mid-step and looked at Sephiroth sharply. _-He – **what?** But then, that means he’s a traitor, too! Shouldn’t we tell Director Lazard?-_

 _-We would need more proof than what we have-_ Sephiroth frowned at Zack, looking irritated. _-Which would mean acquiring more evidence-_

_-We can get Kunsel on that, right?-_

_-So long as it does not interfere with his work as an **actual** SOLDIER, perhaps-_

_-Perhaps?!-_

_-Do **you** want to see him accused of working with deserters?-_

Zack’s expression contorted as his side of the connection did the same, going through frustration, annoyance, anger, and then finally a disgruntled realization that _definitely_ said he wasn’t keen on what Sephiroth was implying. His mental state said the same. _-Okay so he keeps digging at the same pace he always does. But what can **we** do?-_

_-We keep our thoughts to ourselves and continue working for Shinra-_

Sephiroth met Zack’s gaze evenly, despite the flare of emotion from the Second.

_-How can we after-- -_

_-Because we need to let them assume we are still **loyal** to the company. As much as we would like to chase after Genesis and Angeal ourselves, we need to keep ourselves in check-_

Zack blinked. _-…we?-_

Sephiroth’ gave him a deadpan look. _-They were **both** my friends before this, Zack-_

 _-…oh-_ Zack blinked a couple times, then shook his head. _-Okay, that’s something to think about another day. So, what, we lay low until they pop up again?-_

 _-That would be ideal. We will continue to collect what information we can in the meantime, while also dealing with what the company requests of us-_ Sephiroth’s eyes narrowed. _-Hojo, for example, will no doubt have heard of our merging from Tseng’s report by the time we are next in his lab. However, we need to keep that from him as long as possible-_

_-Why? He’s gonna figure out about it eventually, right?-_

_-Angeal wanted me to keep you out of his reach. I intend to continue to uphold that **despite** his absence-_

Zack rubbed the back of his head as the memory of that conversation played back. A nervous chuckle escaped him.

_-Unless he asks about it, we will not attempt to become ‘in sync.’ Is that understood?-_

_-Crystal clear, sir!-_

_-Good-_ Sephiroth motioned towards the door. _-Go rest. I will handle the report of the mission for Lazard-_

_-Are you sure?-_

_-I will be fine, Zack. He will only receive the details that are important to the mission, nothing more-_

_-Oh. Cool, cool. Um…see ya around?-_

The hopeful tone in Zack’s thoughts granted a nod and a sense of confirmation from Sephiroth, which only made Zack grin as he slipped out of the office.

Sephiroth waited until Zack had closed the door behind him to pull up his mental walls and drop his head into his hands.

“What has Hollander _done?”_

He didn’t like the foreboding feeling he was receiving from this chain of events, and if anything, they were only telling him that events were going to escalate in the near future. If those events offered any hope of bringing Angeal and Genesis back, before they could take things too far, perhaps everything would end for the better.

If they only made their situation _worse…_ Sephiroth did not want to consider the consequences that could fall on all their heads.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...if anyone asks, I'm currently writing chapter 42. I've only got a handful of chapters left before I start the next part.
> 
> I'm gonna go back to the chapters I've written and edit them as best I can before you guys can read them, obviously, but I'd say I'm very comfortably positioned when it comes to a buffer zone right now. :)
> 
> If you want to bug me on my Tumblr over what's coming, I've put a link on my profile! Or just search "crossroadsdimension," either way works.


	13. Genesis Invasion

“The Turk’s report mentioned that the two of you managed something that you have not managed in my facilities.” Hojo inclined his head to frown at Zack and Sephiroth. “You _will_ replicate it today, in the Drum. I have yet to see your combat capabilities when you are together, and this would be a good way to collect some combat data.”

Zack frowned as Sephiroth raised his barrier slightly. He was emotionally dead again, which only made Zack more nervous.

_-He keeps monsters in the Drum-_

_-You mean the monsters that break out sometimes?-_

_-If they become strong enough-_

Well, _that_ didn’t sound good.

“And I _expect_ you to replicate what you managed when you went to Banora.” Hojo turned and walked to the elevator that was a part of the lab.

Zack would have hesitated had Sephiroth not followed Hojo with that usual SOLDIER calm. As it was, he barely made it into the elevator before the doors closed behind him.

Hojo’s nose wrinkled at Zack. “I should think that you would have given him your ability to follow orders when given.”

“Keeping ourselves separate is better for us,” Sephiroth replied evenly “Our connection goes _both_ ways, Professor Hojo.”

Hojo frowned. “I see. You are protecting yourself _from_ him, then.”

Sephiroth didn’t answer, but Hojo seemed to accept that as an answer.

Zack frowned at Sephiroth. _-Are you saying you don’t want what I can do?-_

_-I am saying I am not prepared for your need to constantly **move,** Zack Fair-_

_-What, why not?-_

_-You grew up with high energy. I did not. I am not about to allow myself to take on more personality traits from you if I do not know how to handle it-_

_-Oh. Huh. I guess I can see how that could be a problem. Guess we’ll have to stick with only letting fighting stuff cross over when we can?-_

_-That would be ideal-_

The elevator came to a stop and opened into a large, dim room. A column with a full mako tank was in the center, with pipes reaching out in all directions.

“Now.” Hojo stepped out of the elevator onto the catwalk, then looked at Sephiroth and Zack as they followed him out. “You will be going into one of the wards on the floor below. I expect you to demonstrate for me your ability to act as one. Sephiroth.”

Sephiroth nodded back and met Zack’s gaze before walking past him and around the mako column. Zack moved to follow after him into what looked like a freight elevator on the other side.

“What does he do to the monsters in here?” Zack asked. “What’s with the _tank?”_

“Specialized mako.” Sephiroth watched the elevator doors close. He wasn’t the one who jumped when the elevator clunked loudly in a downward direction as it started its descent. “Hojo hasn’t spoken of where it comes from, but he has a large supply for use in his experiments.”

“Oh. That…wait, _you_ haven’t been exposed to it, have you?”

“No.”

The elevator jolted again as it came to a stop. Zack didn’t jump this time as the doors opened, revealing multiple circles of catwalks going around the inside of the lab, with a platform around the base of the mako column.

And below that….

 _-What’s in the **pods?** -_ Zack almost gulped as Sephiroth led him across the platform towards the column.

_-Experiments-_

_-Well, yeah, but what kind of-- -_

_-They are monsters being infused with the mako, most likely-_

_-And these are the things that can get out of the building? And sometimes pop up in the slums?-_ If Zack hadn’t been nervous about the prospect of doing things in the Drum before, he certainly was now.

Sephiroth frowned at him. -Who _told you that?-_

_-Kunsel did. He said the monsters that sometimes break out in the labs look a **lot** like some of the ones that are spotted in the slums-_

Sephiroth’s presence simmered with a thought that Zack almost grabbed, but Sephiroth pulled away at the last moment.

_-I **would** barricade you out, but we are going to need to give Hojo something-_

_-What kind of something?-_

Sephiroth sent Zack a frown that told him as much as Sephiroth’s state of mind did.

_-…we’re really gonna give him that?-_

_-If only for a few moments-_

_-B-but you said- -_

**::I have something set up for the two of you in Ward 2::** Hojo’s voice almost seemed to come out of nowhere, making Zack stiffen. Sephiroth merely looked up, not the least bit startled as he met Hojo’s gaze through an observation deck far above their heads. **::Well? Go on, then!::**

Sephiroth merely turned and made his way towards a large, glowing red “02” sign, the doors underneath it opening as Zack followed.

_-We are attempting to learn about this as much as he is. He hasn’t fixed us with any sort of reading apparatus, so he will not know how deep our connection can settle. It would be best if you kept a strong emotion prepared, in case we will need it to break the connection at a moment’s notice-_

Zack frowned. Sephiroth was making sense, but… _-What, and you can’t?-_

_-I am not known for my…emotional outbursts-_

_-You felt pretty betrayed when we found that Angeal disappeared. That threw me out the first time-_

Sephiroth almost paused at the ward’s entrance, but his step only faltered slightly. _-Hm-_

 _-Yeah. You can do it too, like it or not. So…what does Hojo want to pit us up against?-_ Zack looked around somewhat nervously as the Ward’s doors closed behind them.

A loud roar from a giant, mutated, four-legged beast that looked like a bloated behemoth caught their attention.

“How the hell does he keep something like _that_ in here?!” Zack yelped.

“You will have time to question it later.” Sephiroth readied his sword.

“But –“

_- **Later,** Zack. Focus on taking it down before it does so to **us** -_

The behemoth screeched and charged, forcing the two SOLDIERs to split in different directions in order to avoid getting struck by its horns. Or chomped into a snack.

Zack raised Hard Edge in front of him. _-Time to show this thing what a SOLDIER hero is made of!-_

_-Not literally-_

_-Well, duh!-_ Zack rushed in and slashed at the monster’s side, getting its attention.

He had to jump back in order to avoid getting snapped at, but then Sephiroth slashed into the monster’s other side, getting it to look at him with a snarl. It tried to gore Sephiroth, but he moved in a flash of silver to stay clear.

_-I thought behemoths are faster than this!-_

The behemoth roared and slammed its paws into the ground before kicking out at Zack. Then it attempted to hit him with its horns, only for Sephiroth to get in the way and use his blade to guard against it.

_-You will have to do better than that. Remember, this is one of **Hojo’s** creations. It is not as easy to fight as other behemoths you may have encountered-_

Zack grunted as he pushed himself to his feet. _-Yeah, yeah. Any ideas?-_

_-Are you prepared for what he expects?-_

Zack sighed heavily and raised Hard Edge as Sephiroth pushed off the behemoth’s horns to land next to Zack. _-No, but it’s not like we have a choice-_

Zack and Sephiroth held their swords up and lunged towards the beast, Sephiroth moving before Zack. Their mental connection, before more closed off, seemed to become more wide open the more they slashed at the behemoth, jumping back and moving forward in response to its attacks.

 _-It mustn’t be- -_ Zack slashed Hard Edge into the behemoth’s side. It roared and attempted to gore him.

Sephiroth caught the monster’s horns on Masamune. _\- -full grown yet. More likely a- -_

Zack went in and caught the behemoth’s attention again, causing it to pull away from Sephiroth. _\- -teenager or whatever they call it. Would he- -_

 _\- -be able to keep a fully grown behemoth here?-_ Sephiroth slashed against the monster, causing it to rear up and slam the ground, releasing a shockwave of energy. _-Yes- -_

They moved at once to avoid the shockwave, then went in again with their blades. **_\- -Hojo could, with all the equipment he has in here. He could also have other labs where he keeps the monsters too large for the Drum-_**

They lashed against the monster, taking and giving damage in turn, until finally they leapt off the walls and speared down into its head in one motion. The beast, covered in deep and long slashes from their weapons, screeched as metal hit bone, then broke through its skull, and it collapsed with a dying scream that turned into a dull gurgle.

They removed their swords from the corpse and exchanged looks.

**- _Hojo is aware of this now, but we shouldn’t let this continue. We don’t need him to have more data than what he has already. A strong emotional response should-_**

Hojo’s sudden laugh over the loudspeakers made Zack jump, dropping them out of sync abruptly enough that Sephiroth winced slightly and shook his head.

**::Excellent, excellent! This is more than I had hoped for! The reports said you spoke in unison as well for a time – are you still--::**

“Zack was not expecting your interruption,” Sephiroth said with thinly-veiled distaste for the scientist. It made Zack send him a look of surprise. “I would not say we are currently prepared to attempt that again, either.” _-We need time to recover before we attempt this again-_

Zack nodded. _-Makes sense to me-_

Hojo huffed, annoyed. **::Then I shall simply take readings from your mental states post-‘sync,’ and let Lazard have you for whatever useless drivel he has in mind::**

Zack followed Sephiroth out of the ward and back around the central column of mako to the elevator. _-We’re going to have to do this again, aren’t we?-_

 _-Unfortunately-_ Sephiroth’s sigh could be barely heard. _-I would recommend that we find a way to shift in and out of that state without needing an outside stimulus. Otherwise, there may come a time where we will settle in sync with each other, and be unable to pull out-_

Zack gulped as they reached the elevator. _-Yeah, I can see how that’d be a bad thing-_

\----

Somehow, life at Shinra wanted to keep going as it always had, despite the turmoil that circled in the back of Zack’s and Sephiroth’s minds. Hollander, one of Shinra’s scientists, was in league with Angeal and Genesis, but they had no _proof_ that could get him arrested. The man’s absence from the labs was noted, but no one had been able to locate him, much less get any answers out of his assistants about his current projects.

And as if that wasn’t enough, Hojo definitely wanted to grab Zack and Sephiroth for more experiments.

Zack scowled at the thought as he sat in the lounge. _Just_ what he needed, _more_ concern over what was going on in the science department. Worry over what Hollander had involved with Genesis and Angeal was bad enough, but Hojo wanting whatever was going through their heads was even _worse._

_-Zack, come to Lazard’s office-_

Zack almost jolted at Sephiroth’s sudden intrusion, but held it back. _-H-huh? Oh, uh sure! What’s up?-_

_-We’ll talk about that when you get here-_

Zack’s expression twisted at Sephiroth’s avoidance of a straight answer.

Sephiroth picked up on his annoyance. _-Zack-_

_-I’m coming, I’m coming. Just gimme a bit-_

Zack huffed and moved off the couch in the lounge before he started down the hall. He flipped closed his PHS and stuck it in a pocket. Kunsel had sent him an email an hour ago about Hojo testing something in the training area of the SOLDIER floor, which had left Zack steering clear of the area and not getting in any training _at all_ today _._

 _-I’d hoped to get some training in before anything happened-_ Zack snorted. _-Guess I don’t have to wait for Hojo to stop whatever he’s doing before I can do something-_

Sephiroth sent along a sense of agreement. _-Yes, there is that. You didn’t go there yourself, I assume-_

_-Nah, Kunsel told me before I was able to get in. Mentioned something about how Hojo got the SOLDIER project to work, too. He doesn’t have all the details, but apparently we get something besides mako injected in us to help keep it in our system? Something like that; guess that’s what the ‘booster’ shots are. I think he wants to look into that more-_

The email Kunsel had sent _suggested_ as much, at least. If they were getting an unknown substance on top of the mako, then it was a good idea to know what exactly it was that Hojo was working with.

_-Only encourage it if it assists in the investigation of Hollander and his connection to Genesis and Angeal-_

_-Yeah, yeah-_ Zack rolled his eyes as he reached the elevators.

_-Hojo is a dangerous man, Zack. I doubt you want to see your friend harmed by accidentally coming across something that shouldn’t be known-_

_-Kunsel may as well be your friend, too, with how much he’s helped us out-_

Kunsel stepped out of one of the elevators as Zack approached. “Hey, Zack. You see the news on how the Wutai war’s officially over?”

“Yeah, I saw! Sephiroth got all the attention, though.” Zack scowled. “And I got involved in the mission that ended it; you’d think I would’ve gotten _something.”_

Sephiroth stirred with some amusement at the back of his mind, but Zack ignored it. They’d figured out by now that they could hear what the other person was saying aloud just as well as what they were thinking. They had to focus in order to do that, however, and if Sephiroth was focusing, that probably meant there wasn’t anything happening where he was.

“Well, that’s just PR for you. They like thinking about their Silver General more than any up-and-coming Second that’s caught his attention.” Kunsel shook his head. “You saw my email, I guess.”

“Yeah; I just got called up to Lazard’s office, though, so I can’t sneak in for you.” Zack frowned. “I hope you’re not going to.”

“Do _I_ look like I’m planning on getting involved in whatever Hojo’s up to?” Kunsel held up his hands. “I value my life more than that, Zack. Don’t look at me like that.”

“Good.” Zack nodded. “Planning on spreading more rumors around?”

“Yeah. I figure something about the science department this time.” Kunsel tilted his head and grinned. “They’re the reason SOLDIER is around, sure, but I’ve got a feeling they cause us as many problems as they do solutions. Gotta give the newbies a healthy fear of them.”

Zack gave him a thumbs-up. “Good luck with that.”

“And keep me in on the loop with Lazard, will ya? He’s been favoring you and Sephiroth a lot, lately, since you guys work so well together.” Kunsel paused. “Just…don’t forget that I’m your friend too. Having only _one_ close friend in this place isn’t going to do you any good if he disappears. SOLDIERs aren’t exactly known to be mentally stable, ya know?”

“Like I’m gonna be able to forget you.” Zack laughed. “See you around – and let me know how people take your rumor and run with it, yeah?” He got the elevator open and stepped inside, leaving Kunsel in the hall.

Zack knew the way to Lazard’s office like the back of his hand at this point. It helped that he and Sephiroth had learned to use each other’s presences like a beacon, too, to draw them from one point of the building to another. It meant they got pretty close to falling in sync with each other, but that was just practice for knowing when to pull back.

 _-What’s up?-_ Zack glanced at Sephiroth as he walked past him. The General was leaning against a nearby table, reading something.

 _-You’ll see-_ Sephiroth nodded to Lazard as Zack came to a stop in front of the director’s desk.

Lazard raised his head from where it rested on folded hands, arms propped up by his elbows. “Ah. When Sephiroth said you would be here soon, he wasn’t kidding.”

“Yeah, well…” Zack shrugged a shoulder. Lazard knew about the connection, so it shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise. “What’s up?”

Lazard didn’t hide the smile. “Well, I think some congratulations are in order. As of this moment, you’re being promoted to SOLDIER First Class.”

Zack blinked in surprise. Sephiroth’s presence hovered in a curious neutrality, but didn’t press foo far in.

Zack, on his part, wasn’t sure what to make of it. A part of him felt like he’d almost _forgotten_ about the drive to become a First Class. “…Huh.”

Lazard tilted his head. “Hm?”

“I…I thought I’d be happier, is all.” Zack shrugged.

Lazard leaned back in his chair and nodded. “That’s understandable. Too much happened too fast.”

Genesis, Angeal, the whole thing in Banora, gaining the weird telepathy-thing that sometimes went mind merge….

Zack felt rather than heard Sephiroth shift behind him.

“Zack, I’m afraid I need your assistance again,” Lazard said.

Zack glanced at Sephiroth. “Are we doing another assignment together?”

Sephiroth nodded. Zack felt the connection narrow slightly as he did. “In a manner of speaking.”

Zack frowned.

Lazard cleared his throat getting their attention. “I’ll fill you in on the assignment, but before that, you should probably change into a First Class uniform. Normally, I’d send you out to collect it and have you come back, but Sephiroth insisted on bringing one up here.” He motioned to a door in a back corner of the room. “It’s waiting for you in there, although the only true difference is the color.”

Zack looked down at his purple uniform. “Heh, yeah. They don’t really need to do much else, though.”

“No, not really.” Lazard motioned to the door again, and Zack slipped through it into an adjoining bathroom.

Lucky directors, getting private areas to relieve themselves.

The new uniform, black instead of his current purple, sat on the counter next to the sink. Zack picked up the sleeveless turtleneck on top and gave it a good, long look before he dropped it back on the pile and started to swap uniforms.

 _-I kinda wish I had more time to process this-_ Zack complained to Sephiroth. _-It feels like we only just started getting headaches **yesterday,** with how fast everything’s going. I don’t like it-_

 _-I know what you mean-_ Sephiroth was careful, keeping something in check. _-You will just have to deal with this, Zack-_

_-Yeah, guess so-_

Zack figured he’d feel better if Angeal was there. His mentor being _in Shinra,_ and not running around as a deserter, probably would have made this feel less like just another day at Shinra and more like something to _actually_ celebrate.

He could feel Sephiroth’s agreement to that, even if there wasn’t that much of a feeling there.

Zack left his old uniform lying in a heap on the bathroom floor as he stepped out and rejoined Lazard and Sephiroth. “So? What’s the mission?”

Lazard leaned over his desk, resting his elbows against it and folding his hands in front of him. “The company has decided to eliminate Genesis and his cohorts, since you were unable to bring them in from Banora. And this includes Angeal as well.”

“And you want _us_ to do it?” Zack looked between Sephiroth and Lazard in alarm.

Lazard shook his head. “No; the Shinra army will handle it.”

“Then what are _we_ doing up here?”

“They don’t trust you.”

“It is believed that _your_ emotions will hamper your judgement,” Sephiroth said as he moved away from the table he’d been leaning against.

“Mine? What about _yours?_ ” Zack gave Sephiroth a pointed frown. “I know you’re not a heartless bastard, Sephiroth.”

Sephiroth frowned back. “ _I_ can keep mine under control. You wear yours on your sleeve.”

“Well – _yeah!_ That’s how I’ve always been.”

“I know. Which is why I’m going.”

Zack stared at Sephiroth, but then his expression hardened. “To kill them?”

_-Keep your emotions under control. No, it is not to kill them-_

Zack fought down his surprise, but his expression still quivered a little bit.

_-If you’re lying-- -_

Zack’s thought was cut off by a loud explosion that made him jump.

Immediately, the office was flashing red as steel shutters slid down over Lazard’s bookshelves. Zack and Sephiroth both looked at the director as he reached for his computer.

“An intruder,” Lazard said in surprise.

“Where?” Zack’s and Sephiroth’s voices overlapped, but they weren’t in sync, not yet.

“Close. Sephiroth, the president.” Standard procedure was making sure the head honcho was okay and _not_ going to get killed by whatever set the alarms off. Sephiroth, being the best of the best, made sense for taking that position.

Sephiroth nodded. _-Understood-_

“Zack, entrance.”

“Y-yeah, you got it!”

Zack took off at a run as Sephiroth moved at a much more even pace. The president’s office was closer to Lazard’s than the main entrance was, but the least he could do was pick up the pace.

 _-No sense in letting panic take our heads-_ Sephiroth reminded Zack. _-And there are Seconds and Thirds in the building as well. They will be responding accordingly-_

Zack ran for the elevator and hit the down button as he felt Sephiroth contemplate something.

_-And, if they do not, **we** can ensure that they will do so if this happens again-_

_-We? Why-- -_

_-You’re a First now, Zack-_ The reminder probably would have come across as gentle or amused if they _weren’t_ currently facing down an invasion of the building.

_-…oh. **Oh-**_

Any stray thoughts that leaned towards getting Kunsel to do things for him came to an abrupt halt when the elevator came to a stop on the 49th floor. _-Huh? Hey, I gotta get down to the entrance, what’s the big idea?-_

 _-Better to investigate now than regret it later-_ Sephiroth sent back. _-There may be other SOLDIERs in the building, but that does not mean they are as strong as you or I-_

_-Right, right…-_

\----

Taking out Shinra’s own weapons _on top of_ Genesis clones was _not_ Zack’s idea of a good first day as a First. Especially when he was fighting alone, after having gotten used to fighting alongside Sephiroth in Banora and some of the missions they'd done afterwards.

 _-Genesis clones in the lobby! As if the drones on the 49 th floor going haywire weren’t bad enough, I get to deal with Sweepers here, too!-_ Zack ducked low as one of the five sweepers pointed their guns at him and started shooting; he rushed forward and took it down with a few swipes of Hard Edge and a well-timed Blizzard to some exposed circuitry.

 _-I’m coming down-_ Sephiroth sent back. _-I find it likely that Hollander spurred this attack from Genesis-_

Zack vocalized a curse as he danced out of the sweepers’ line of fire. _-We got proof?-_ He rushed back in again and crossed swords with a Genesis copy before sweeping a leg out and bringing his sword down on his opponent. The copy was dead before the body hit the ground.

_-He’s the only one who had access to the copy technology. Our little ‘friend’ has done well in locating that information. We can now confirm that Hollander is as much an enemy of Shinra as they think Genesis and Angeal are-_

_-Thank Gaia for Kunsel!-_ Zack thrust his sword forward, taking out another sweeper as he continued to do his best to dance around more bullets. His Cure materia was seeing more use today than any of his other ones, which spoke more for his opponents _numbers_ than their skill. _-But that means Genesis and Hollander really **are** working together. Any clue what they’re after?-_

There was a shift of metal as the elevator door dropped, letting Sephiroth out onto the ground floor. Zack could feel his presence, a calm, controlled spot amidst the chaos of out-of-control sweepers and more copies coming in through the blown-out front doors. If he’d been wearing anything but combat boots, his feet would have been in trouble from all the glass everywhere.

 _-Hollander likely wants to take Hojo’s place as the head of the science department-_ Sephiroth leapt down and skewered a Genesis copy before going after the remainder of the sweepers with Zack. _-He has likely wanted revenge for some time, and Genesis has given him an opportunity-_

Zack snorted as he moved under an explosion of gunfire before retaliating at one of the last sweepers standing. “That’s petty. And Genesis is supporting him while he and Angeal get answers?”

“A lot of the scientists Shinra employs are petty. It’s their way of attempting to keep them in check, so long as they are attempting to one-up each other.” Sephiroth paused. “Although, clearly, that has not worked in this instance.”

“Yeah, _clearly.”_

“As for Genesis…I find your assessment likely. Hollander could be hiding information from them in order to get as much use out of Genesis as possible.” Sephiroth paused. “I would prefer not to believe it, but—”

“Then don’t.”

Sephiroth looked at Zack with a raised brow.

“Genesis is a friend of yours, right? It’d make sense that you’d know him pretty well. Better than Hollander, even. So don’t believe it until you can talk to Genesis.”

_-You have a very even head on your shoulders, considering the circumstances-_

_-Yeah, well…I gotta think about it for Angeal, too-_

Sephiroth’s expression shifted, but Zack sensed agreement and what counted as empathy from him.

“So, what are you doing down here instead of guarding the president?” Zack rested his blade on one shoulder, looking around at the carnage they’d left behind in taking down the sweepers.

“Genesis copies were seen in Sector 8. We’ve been tasked with handling the problem.”

“Ah, gotcha. Let’s go after them before they cause any trouble!”

\----

Saying that Sector 8 was in chaos was an understatement. Sweepers and Genesis copies ran in every direction, and people ran from them as they scrambled for shelter, out of the way of chattering gunfire or sweeping swords.

_-Splitting up here would be a wise decision-_

_-Think we can handle it? I mean, we’re gonna be fighting stuff, and if we fight stuff at the same time-- -_

Sephiroth sent Zack a sour look. _-We will not be in the same place. I doubt that will cause us to settle in sync with each other-_

Zack blinked. They hadn’t experimented with that as a factor in the connection yet. _-That…kinda makes sense, I guess-_

“We’ll keep in touch if we need help?” Zack asked.

“That would be ideal, but you _are_ a First,” Sephiroth pointed out. “I doubt that either of us will be requiring assistance from each other against a few mere copies and attack drones.”

“Yeah, maybe. Backup’s always a good thing to have, though.” Zack grinned somewhat sheepishly.

“Perhaps.” Sephiroth nodded to Zack, then turned and started quickly down one of the streets.

Zack ran in the other direction, Hard Edge in one hand as he went after the nearest sweeper. “Hey, buddy! Pretty sure I make a better target! Come and get it, you piece of junk!”

The sweeper turned away from the group of civilians it had been chasing, only to get a grill-full of lighting for its trouble. Hard Edge went into its armor a moment later, cutting off one of the gun arms before the machine had a chance to retaliate.

Zack couldn’t help but grin as he cut the machine’s weapons off, then jammed his sword up into where the brain of the metal thing probably was. It juttered and came to a stumbling halt.

“A SOLDIER!” someone exclaimed.

“Thank goodness!” another civilian said, relieved. “I was starting to wonder where they were!”

“Get to safety, now!” Zack called at the three figures standing nearby. “Who knows what these things are gonna do when they’re running around like this!”

The civilians scrambled towards some nearby homes – apparently, Zack yelling at them was enough to make them remember what was going on in the area. Hopefully they’d stay out of the line of fire until _well_ after the threat was over and done with.

Zack moved further down the street, watching for more copies and sweepers as Sephiroth did the same. He couldn’t hear the general’s thoughts, not exactly, but he could _feel_ the focus Sephiroth was putting into hunting down every single opponent before more damage could be caused. Zack was already focused on hunting down these things before they could cause any damage for Sector 8 or the inhabitants, but something about Sephiroth’s own focus made Zack’s vision become tunneled.

 _-Ah. So this is what happens when we’re not in the same space-_ Sephiroth had noticed the effect.

_-Do you wanna block it, or should I?-_

_-Leave it. The sooner we can clear the area, the better-_

_-Understood-_

Zack’s sword met metal and flesh as more copies and sweepers attempted to meet him and fell. The robots had attack patterns programmed into them, and the Genesis copies’ moves were common enough between them that it was starting to get very easy to predict what they would do. A raised sword here meant a weak point in the side; a raised arm there meant a counter with magic of his own, before running in close to finish them off while they stood stunned from a Lightning, or attempted to summon another Blizzard.

Zack’s tunnel vision pulled back a little when he reached a fountain deeper into Sector 8. Genesis’ forces seemed not as focused on the area.

Except for the two Genesis copies that were moving towards a red-haired young woman.

“Hold on, I’m a-comin’!”

Zack would have reached her had someone not stuck a baton in his face, making him stop short.

Another redhead, with goggles and a suit. Were Genesis’ copies being attracted to them, or the other way around?

“Sector 8 is Turks jurisdiction, Slick,” the redhead with the baton said.

“You’re not doing a very good job of keeping the copies out, then,” Zack retorted.

Another guy in a suit – another Turk? – walked up next to him, pushing up a pair of sunglasses. “There’s no need for concern.”

“We don’t take care of our jobs as out in the open as you SOLDIERs do,” came a voice from behind.

Zack looked back and blinked as Tseng approached. “What do you—”

Tseng nodded towards the young woman Zack had spotted, causing him to turn quickly, only to blink in surprise when he saw that the two Genesis copies were down, and the young woman was still standing tall with a large shuriken in one hand.

“Okay….” Zack relaxed his stance, but only slightly. Now that he was a bit closer, he could see the woman was wearing a Turk suit, too. At least that meant she could defend herself. Probably. He hadn’t even heard her attack the copies, much less get hit in response! “Good to know you guys can handle yourselves.”

“The other areas?” Tseng prompted.

“Midgar is just crawling with nasties,” remarked the baton-wielding Turk.

“SOLDIER is having difficulties,” the bald Turn noted.

“Reno, Rude.”

Zack blinked as he watched Tseng nod to the two Turks Zack hadn’t been introduced to yet. Was Tseng high up on the food chain for the Turks? Probably. Wasn’t like the others were running off without listening to him.

“Just say the word.” Reno had a lazy grin on his face.

“Yes, sir,” Rude said with a nod.

Zack watched with a frown as the two of them ran off, Reno laughing as he went. Must be one of the more violent Turks if he’s itching for a fight.

“So, now we’re outsourcing to the Turks?” Zack frowned, watching them go.

“SOLDIER is being stingy,” said a woman’s voice.

“There’s a manpower shortage – huh?” Zack did a double-take. When did the Turk with the shuriken get behind him like that? “How can you people be so sneaky?”

“I’m Cissnei,” the Turk said. “And we have our own secrets, much like SOLDIERs do.”

“Guess that makes sense. I’m Zack, pleasure to meet ya.”

“Zack.” Tseng walked up, posture screaming disapproval. “Aren’t you on assignment?”

Zack almost scowled at the way Cissnei held back a laugh, but Tseng was right. He was out here for a reason. “We’ve got the same objective. The copies and the sweepers, along with whatever else Genesis pulled out of the woodwork. Need some help here?”

“I appreciate the offer, but—”

“Oh, how generous!” Cissnei raised a hand with a smile, then turned and started walking towards a different part of the sector. “Well, Tseng, Zack, I gotta go!”

Zack grinned at Tseng. “Well, I’m not gonna say no to a lady’s request. Are you?”

Tseng glowered at Zack, but he didn’t say anything against Zack’s want to help. As good of a sign as any, in Zack’s opinion. He grinned at the Turk and took off after Cissnei, sword in hand as another group of Genesis copies tried to jump him. Well, tried and failed. If they couldn’t handle a Turk, they _definitely_ couldn’t handle a SOLDIER. Turks weren’t exactly the ones that Shinra pumped full of mako, after all.

But, still, he couldn’t help feeling impressed that those three Turks with Tseng had just run off into the fray without a look of worry. If SOLDIERs were made of tough stuff in order to handle all the mako in their systems, the Turks were definitely tough in an entirely different way. Maybe….

_-You can try to be friendly with them, but it isn’t common to ‘make friends’ out of a Turk-_

_-Oh, come on!-_

_-I’m serious, Zack. The Turks keep to themselves. Some may pretend to be your friend, but don’t count on them to remain that way unless you make a good impression-_

_-I’m definitely keeping that in mind-_

The exasperation Sephiroth sent back only made Zack grin. He made a friend out of Sephiroth; he could make friends out of a Turk or two, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: in Crisis Core, Kunsel's email about Hojo in the training room mentions Jenova cells. I decided at this point to make that information harder to find, because Zack learning about Jenova would mean Sephiroth would because of the connection, and as a result, the plot would be thrown off a bit too early for my liking.
> 
> A strange thought, I know. But it made sense to hold this back until later. Trust me.
> 
> In other news...I've written 44 chapters, and that's how long this story is going to be. The first half of it, anyway. I'm going to be posting until mid-November, after which I'm probably going to start posting the second half in December. I'm going to be working on editing what I've already written until I feel comfortable with what I have, and then I'll start working on the second half.
> 
> It's amazing that I'm this far ahead.


	14. Reactor 5

The copies were getting better at looking like Genesis, which was as foreboding as it was terrifying. Although, the fact that this one fought with a _gun_ and a _baton_ and fire materia instead of a _rapier_ and fire materia was probably the more unnerving part. Genesis, Angeal, and Sephiroth _all_ preferred to use swords over anything else that Shinra had at its disposal, so seeing a Genesis copy that looked like the real deal but not using the right weapon made a chill settle into Zack he didn’t like the feel of.

At least that meant Zack wouldn’t have to deal with Genesis’ true fighting style as he cut this one down. He tried not to think about the black wing that exploded from the copy’s back before he finished it off, but it was hard to ignore when it was splayed out against the ground.

“When I was a kid, I always wanted to have wings.” Cissnei walked over, a look of wonder on her face as she stared at the wing. A few scattered clones lay in her wake. “You know, like an angel.”

Zack frowned, remembering what Genesis had said back in Banora. _We are monsters._ “If people had wings, they’d be monsters. People aren’t supposed to _have_ wings.”

“But wings symbolize freedom for those who have none. They don’t symbolize monsters, or at least, they don’t have to.”

Zack turned and raised an eyebrow. “Freedom, huh? That’s what you see in them?”

For a second, it almost looked like Cissnei was smiling, but the expression was gone in an instant, hidden under something more professional. “SOLDIER First Class, indeed. A very impressive show of force.”

Zack snorted. “Unlike the Turks, we folks at SOLDIER are paid to fight. You guys are just paid to be sneaky.”

“Hm.” Another flash of an almost smile from Cissnei. “Well, I have another job to take care of. Didn’t you have another assignment, too?”

“Assignment?” Zack frowned, but Sephiroth shifted a thought enough to get his attention: Lazard’s office, talking about Genesis and Angeal. The feeling was impatient, almost. “Oh, yeah…”

“I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other again.” Cissnei turned and ran off, likely looking for more Genesis copies and sweepers to knock into next week with those secret Turk ways of hers.

_Now what do I—_

_-If you’re done, Zack, meet me in Mako Reactor 5-_

Zack shifted and looked over in the direction of the closest reactor, green flare lighting up the sky. _-Reactor **5?** Why all the way out there?-_

_-Angeal has been sighted-_

Sephiroth’s voice was controlled, without emotion, and it made Zack frown. _-So, it’s search and destroy?-_

_-The army is mobilizing, but there’s still time. You and I will find them before they do and-- -_

_-And WHAT? Finish them off instead of trying to talk to them?-_

_-No. We will **fail** to eliminate them-_

A little more than words slipped through along with Sephiroth’s answer, and what Zack got made his eyes widen before a grin crossed his face. _-For real? We’re gonna take this chance to talk him out of what he’s doing?-_

_-Yes, for real-_

_-Excellent! Err, probably!-_

Sephiroth felt some momentary amusement. _-Is Sector 8 cleared out, then?-_

_-As cleared out as I and the Turks can make it, I think! They’ve got a pretty good handle on things, even if the Genesis clones are starting to look more like Genesis and less like mask-wearing people-_

_-Hm. It would be best if you stayed out of their way for now, then-_

_-Probably. See you at the reactor!-_

Zack grinned and took off at a run. If Sephiroth said Angeal was in the area, he _really_ hoped that was the case. Maybe Angeal was alone, and they could talk him down from whatever Genesis had gotten them both involved in. He can’t have been liking what Genesis’ copies were doing at the Shinra building, after all. It wasn’t exactly honorable.

Something told him Sephiroth agreed with that train of thought. Maybe with a different thought in mind, but still.

\----

Mako Reactor 5 was _crawling_ with off-white and gray, feathery monsters. The first one Zack ran into looked like it had crawled out of the sewers and through some sick chocobo’s nest before coming here. It wasn’t too hard of a fight, thankfully, but it was a difficult enough one with it trying to spear him with that trident it carried. Hard Edge kept getting caught in the prongs of the weapon whenever he went in for a hit, so the monster got more ice and lightning magic for its trouble.

It was when it finally collapsed that Zack noticed there was something up with the top of its head.

“Is that… _Angeal’s_ face?” He knelt down to have a closer look at the monster’s face, frowning.

As if the Genesis copies weren’t bad enough, _now_ there were monsters running around with _Angeal_ in them. Just what was Hollander _doing_ to them?

The metal walkway rang with footsteps, but Zack didn’t need to look up to know who it was.

“It appears Genesis isn’t the only one who can be copied,” Sephiroth remarked.

“So, he really _is_ working with Hollander and Genesis,” Zack muttered, moody. “Why did they decide to do this?”

Sephiroth stopped next to Zack and looked down at the monster, frowning. His gaze shifted, and so did his train of thought. _-It must have started with the company training room-_

_-Huh?-_

_-We used to sneak in there for fun, when the Seconds were out-_

Zack snorted. “Fun” could mean anything for a SOLDIER, but the way Sephiroth sounded…. _­-Sparring-_

_-Correct-_

_-You guys must’ve been pretty tight-_ Zack rose from his crouch and leaned against a railing, watching for any approaching monsters. None of the flying, griffin-looking ones seemed to have noticed them yet.

 _-Hm. I have to wonder, with…all this-_ Sephiroth shook his head at the dead monster. _-Our fun stopped some time before our…’connection’ was established. Genesis seemed to have a need to prove himself during that last encounter, and I obliged his want for a fight. It…went too far, however. We damaged the training room, and Genesis was wounded-_

Zack picked up the few trails of memory that drifted from Sephiroth into the connection. A fight over the gun in Junon, but it was a simulation. Otherwise, he would have heard about the entire thing getting chopped to pieces by the greatest SOLDIER alive, and who knows how _that_ would have turned out.

 _-Wounded?-_ Zack frowned. “Was he all right?”

“As far as Genesis was concerned. But as for _Angeal….”_

“Angeal? What happened?”

Sephiroth gave a short laugh, and Zack felt nothing _but_ nostalgic amusement. “Later, I received one of his famous lectures.”

“About what?”

“Always the same. Discipline, dreams, honor, et cetera….”

Zack knew what sort of lecture _that_ was. “One of those, huh?” He probably would have laughed, had they not been talking over the corpse of a monster with the face of Angeal grafted onto it. “How could this have happened? What is it that Hollander got them to work with him for? Those answers Genesis wants?”

“It’s certainly likely.”

“But what would _Angeal_ want with them? Genesis is the one with the wing, not Angeal. Unless this is back to that whole grew up in the same town thing.” Zack ran a hand through his hair, frowning.

“We will have to keep these questions in mind, should we have a chance to run into him.” Sephiroth turned his attention back the way he’d come. “For now, we have a monster infestation to remove from the reactor. Care to assist me?”

“Y-yeah, sure. Maybe we can pick up some more clues while we’re doing this, and maybe we’ll be able to _actually_ find Angeal and get some answers out of him. I doubt any of his monster-copies can talk.”

“Likely not,” Sephiroth agreed. “Genesis’ copies don’t seem capable of true speech, either.”

“Which is…kinda unnerving.” Zack felt a chill run down his spine. “Tseng said back in Banora that the technology lets people put their genetic data on monsters and _SOLDIERs_ to turn them into copies. If Angeal is doing that to monsters, then…is…is Hollander using Genesis to do that to—”

Sephiroth’s expression flickered to actual alarm as Zack cut himself off. They both knew where Zack’s trail of thought was leading, however – the connection was wide open, and Zack’s thoughts were in such a turmoil that they were bleeding through to Sephiroth without so much as a warning.

Sephiroth shook his head slightly. “I find that…unfortunately likely, considering the circumstances. It would explain the large number of SOLDIERs that Genesis defected with.”

“Makes me feel sick thinking about it,” Zack admitted. His PHS rattled with an email, but he resisted the urge to look. They were almost to _Angeal,_ hopefully, and he was going to find him before worrying about something Kunsel might have sent him. Or anything Lazard or Shinra might have put out, like that garbage announcement of Genesis and Angeal having been killed in action.

“How so?”

“It’s just – they were people before they got turned into that, you know? Who knows what Genesis might’ve done to – to make them all fight the same, on top of looking the same! Or, what Hollander did, I guess. We’re basically fighting corpses of our people here!”

Sephiroth tilted his head at Zack’s outburst. Zack felt a flicker of surprise from him, but it quickly turned into something much more serious. “Then let us put them out of their misery, before they can be used to cause further harm. We would treat any monsters that we will find here the same way, as well.” He turned and started walking away. “It would not be wise to waste time discussing this, when we have people to find before the army arrives.”

Zack frowned, then moved to catch up to Sephiroth. “Well, yeah, but—”

_-I do not wish to stop this conversation **entirely,** Zack. It will be something we will have to discuss later-_

Zack saw the pointed look Sephiroth sent him and ducked his head. “Y-yeah, sure. Right. Gotta find Angeal first.”

“Exactly.”

\----

They found Angeal’s face on the monsters, at least, but finding Angeal himself was another matter entirely. Especially when Zack was running around getting power to doors in the reactor. All that noise only attracted more monsters as he made sure he and Sephiroth could get access to every nook and cranny in this mako-filled place.

 _-Another lab?-_ Zack frowned as he and Sephiroth stepped through a door and were met with a couple mako-filled tanks.

 _-It seems they were making more copies here-_ Sephiroth frowned at the contents of one of the tanks. “A wretched sight.”

Zack didn’t need the connection to tell him Sephiroth was disgusted, but it was a good thing to have around to confirm Sephiroth’s mood, at least.

Zack’s gaze moved to the only piece of monitoring equipment in the room that seemed to be connected to one of the mako tanks. A paper covered in research notes was sitting on it. “Huh…” He moved closer and gave it a look. _-Degradation? “The heightened abilities of SOLDIER members are maintained by a delicate balance…a change could be caused by a leak of genetic information…SOLDIER Type G”? What the heck?-_

Sephiroth seemed to realize something, and the tug of it made Zack look over at him with a curious look.

“Before Genesis’ desertion…” Sephiroth frowned. “You remember the sparring I mentioned before, correct?”

Zack nodded. “Yeah. And he got hurt during it.”

“A wound in his shoulder, yes. It was superficial, but for some reason, Genesis wasn’t healing.”

“That’s…kinda weird. We’re supposed to be able to heal fast from that kind of stuff.”

Sephiroth nodded. “Hollander took over his treatment, and claimed that mako energy seeped into the wound and disrupted the healing process.”

Zack frowned. “There’s Hollander again…we seem to be hearing about him a _lot_ whenever Genesis and Angeal come up. I wonder if Kunsel’ll be able to find anything after today’s mess.”

“If he does, he will likely have a one-up on the Turks.” A smile flickered across Sephiroth’s face for a moment, but then it was gone. “Hollander claimed he could solve it with a blood transfusion, but that I wasn’t someone who could give what was needed. Angeal, however, _could_ give Genesis a blood transfusion, and he did. Which leaves me questioning why I _couldn’t.”_

“Yeah; you’re all Firsts, it would make sense that you guys could.” Zack frowned. “What’s with that Type G stuff, though? I didn’t think there was more than one version of SOLDIER.”

“It is certainly a question.” Sephiroth noticed another paper covered in research notes sitting under a floodlamp and went over to investigate. _-Hm. This one speaks of an Ancient-_

_-An Ancient?-_

_-The people who lived on this planet in the past. They were far more adept at being able to use magic, and were said to have created the first forms of materia-_ Sephiroth looked over the page, frowning. _-This seems to say that they excavated an Ancient from somewhere, and have been making use of the body’s cells-_

_-For what?-_

_-It doesn’t say-_

“Hmmm….” Zack frowned, and his gaze moved to the bed lying on one side of the room. There was another paper of research notes sitting in the rumpled blanket at the foot of the bed. “Maybe this has some answers?” He stepped over and picked it up. _-Project G…implant the cells into a – **what?!-**_

Sephiroth snatched the paper out of Zack’s hand and read it over himself, then frowned. “Hollander’s experiment.”

“What? Doing _that_ to a baby? Really?”

“After what you have seen Hojo capable of?” Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. He didn’t wait for Zack to recover. “The result was a normal child. Which _meant_ he failed. However….”

“However?”

“Project G gave birth to the man we know as Genesis.” Sephiroth grabbed a clipboard that was sitting nearby – it looked like it had been moved at some point, which Zack took to mean Sephiroth had been reading it while he’d been running around the makeshift lab.

“Which means Project G stands for Project—”

“Genesis.” Sephiroth nodded. “But contrary to this report, Genesis showed clear signs of change.”

“Degrading?” Zack guessed. “And the wing?”

“Not only that.”

Zack felt dread in his stomach. “The copies?”

Sephiroth’s mental presence felt dark and cold as he frowned at the mako tank next to them. Zack turned and jumped back when he saw a monster within, with Angeal’s face instead of its natural one.

“Abominations,” Sephiroth almost hissed.

Zack looked between the monster and Sephiroth. _-H-hey, uh-- -_

“S-Sephiroth?!”

Zack and Sephiroth whirled, finding a pot-bellied man in a labcoat walking down the stairs into the lab.

“Hollander,” Sephiroth greeted. “I thought I’d find you here.”

It took Zack a moment to remember the man from his first visit to the labs in the Shinra building, but he _did_ remember that he hadn’t seen Hollander in the labs since then.

“The degradation process is something only I can stop.” Hollander’s expression turned into something that looked like it was _supposed_ to be a smile, but Zack couldn’t help but see a sneer.

Sephiroth moved towards him, but then a familiar black-winged figure dropped from the ceiling and landed between him and the scientist.

“Genesis.” Sephiroth’s eyes narrowed as Zack stepped forward to join him.

_-We doing this?-_

_-Not yet-_

Genesis raised his rapier and pointed it at Sephiroth’s neck. “You won’t be taking Hollander.” He spread out his wing, and Hollander took that as a signal to run back up the stairs and out of the lab as quickly as his portly self could manage.

_-Zack-_

_-On it!-_ Zack moved after the scientist, almost leaping for the stairs.

A fireball bounced into his path. “You’re not going anywhere either, puppy.”

“You think you can take us both on?” Zack grabbed Hard Edge off his back and held it in front of himself.

 _“Zack.”_ Sephiroth fixed Zack with a glare. “Go after Hollander. We won’t get our answers if he’s gone.”

“You won’t get any answers from him if you have any questions about yourselves,” Genesis said lightly.

“We already know what’s going on with ourselves!” Zack snapped. “Hojo just got too curious, that’s all!”

“Is that so?” Genesis’ expression went sly. “I have my doubts, puppy.”

Sephiroth’s presence glimmered slightly in the connection, and suddenly Masamune was between Genesis and Zack.

“Zack, _go!_ If Hollander gets away—”

“I know, I know!” Zack sheathed his sword and ran up the stairs in the direction Hollander had gone. “What I wouldn’t give for a way to find that old—”

The door slid shut behind him, but Sephiroth could still hear Zack ranting in his head as his words got more colorful. A part of him wondered if he had learned those words from the infantry and other SOLDIERs, or if he had brought them along from wherever it was he had grown up.

Genesis lowered his sword with a knowing half-smile. “’There is no hate, only joy /For you are beloved by the goddess. /Hero of the dawn, /Healer of worlds.”

“LOVELESS, again?” Sephiroth’s words were as bitter as he felt over his friends’ betrayal, but he lowered his own sword despite the opening Genesis was giving him. “You never change.”

“But you have changed plenty, taking Angeal’s apprentice as your own without so much as telling him.”

“He was aware of our connection and allowed me to take Zack for some training of our own. He should have realized that when he left, his responsibility would fall to me.”

“If he did, he has never told me. But, do you remember the plot for the tale? Three friends go into battle. One is captured, one flies away. The one that is left becomes a hero.”

“A common story.” Genesis had to be going somewhere with this, and while Sephiroth wanted answers, he knew Genesis wasn’t going to let him get them so easily.

“If we were to enact it, would I be the one to play the hero, or would you?”

“It’s all yours,” Sephiroth replied. “It’s not a position _I_ actively searched for.”

Genesis chuckled and started walking around the room. Sephiroth didn’t need to turn in order to follow his movements. “Indeed? In that case, all the glory you have should have been mine.”

Sephiroth almost snorted. “How petty.”

“In hindsight, perhaps.” Genesis turned to face Sephiroth again, a flurry of black feathers falling from his wing. “Now, what I want most is the ‘gift of the goddess.’”’

“And what is that to you _this_ time?”

“A cure, obviously.” Genesis motioned to the wing that had sprouted from his wounded shoulder. “Hollander tells me he can find it, and in the meantime, he’s been asking me to do a few favors for him, here and there.”

“The SOLDIERs who deserted with you.”

“A worthy sacrifice for what I will be able to attain.”

“Some would say otherwise.” Sephiroth thought of Zack’s horror at the people the copies had once been, now turned into abominations that only looked like his friend. “Has he managed to find anything useful to you, working out here and not back at Shinra?”

Genesis’ expression contorted. “Like he would be able to find anything for me _there,_ where Hojo was watching his movements.”

“Hojo has been spending more time watching _us_ than anything else.” Loathe as Sephiroth was to admit it.

He reached out for Zack to make sure he wasn’t in trouble and received a feeling that Zack was focusing on fighting something. A great deal of somethings in quick succession, judging by his focus. His anger at Hollander for turning SOLDIERs into Genesis copies only seemed to increase with each fight he found himself in the middle of.

“Yes, Hollander mentioned that he had a new project before he left. I just didn’t think it would happen to be you and the _puppy,_ of all people. Angeal hasn’t been forthcoming on the details of it, but I assume that you and Zack don’t have all the details, either. Say, for example, how Hojo was able to create the connection in the first place.”

“I’m not interested in looking for that information, Genesis,” Sephiroth replied evenly. “I _am_ interested in bringing you back to Shinra so that we can discuss and find a solution to the degradation _without_ you being hunted down. The army has been ordered to kill you on sight.”

“Let them try! I have been meaning to test my and Angeal’s copies on someone other than you and the puppy.” Genesis’ eyes flicked towards the mako tank. “Speaking of…”

“Genesis—”

Sephiroth wasn’t fast enough this time.

Both mako tanks sprang open, releasing two Angeal-copy-monster-abominations, and Genesis shot up to the ceiling again.

“Hollander has promised me the goddess’ gift, and I intend to stay with him until he locates it and reveals it to me!” Genesis called down. “I look forward to facing you again then, on much more even footing!”

Sephiroth gritted his teeth as Genesis seemingly-vanished. He attempted to school his emotions a moment later, realizing the wave of anger was coming from Zack. Sephiroth never let his emotions get the better of him on the battlefield, but when you have a much-younger SOLDIER attached to your consciousness, sometimes that was difficult.

The two abominations were circling him. He eyed them and flicked Masamune.

Might as well put some of Zack’s frustration to good use.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week, we get to meet another character! I bet you all can guess who~


	15. Flower Girl

“Hellooo?”

_H-huh?_

Zack felt like he’d been trampled by a behemoth. Everything ached, and he couldn’t sense Sephiroth through it. He didn’t feel like looking for him, either. What was it he’d been doing? The last thing he remembered was…was…

“Helloooo?”

Zack groaned. _Right._ The reactor, running into Angeal, and then getting the floor blasted out from under him. And now there was…someone yelling at him? Sounded like a girl.

He managed to crack his eyes open with a wince.

“Hooray!”

Zack’s vision cleared as the headache settled into a dull, annoying throb, and he found himself staring up at the face of a green-eyed girl with brown hair, who was wearing a white dress.

“…heaven?”

“Not quite,” the girl replied. “You’re in a church in the slums.”

“Oh.” Of course falling from the plate had dropped him in the slums.

Zack pushed himself into a sitting position, leaning against an arm to get a better look around. It was just him and the girl, in an old-looking wooden church. Oh, and the large patch of flowers that was exploding from the floorboards. “Guess that doesn’t make you an angel, huh?”

The girl laughed. “No. I’m Aerith!” She turned and pointed up at the roof. “You fell from the sky. Really scared me.”

“Wasn’t on purpose.” Zack gaze followed Aerith’s arm up to the roof, where a large hole was letting in sunlight. The plates were supposed to be 300 meters up, right? So how had he _survived?_ Must’ve been because of what made him a SOLDIER. Still…. “So, you saved me, huh?”

“Not really.” Aerith leaned over some of the flowers. “Helloooo! That’s all I did.”

Zack laughed. “Well, someone had to do it.” Something about talking to her was making him feel better, but that could’ve been just because Aerith was a nice distraction from the pain. It was definitely much less than it had been a moment ago.

Whoever Aerith was, he _liked_ her, too. She made a good first impression, and he wanted to make a better one than falling through the roof and scaring her like that.

He rolled back and pushed up into a crouch, getting a laugh from Aerith as he rose to his feet. “Thank you so much, Aerith. I’m Zack.” He folded his arms and looked at her thoughtfully. “I have to repay you somehow.”

Aerith shook her head. “Don’t worry about it.”

“No, no…” Zack started pacing, considering his options. _He_ was a teenager a year or two short of eighteen, and Aerith didn’t look that much younger than him, _or_ older for that matter. Owing her a favor would be easy, but there was no guarantee that he’d see her again. Giving her something of his would be a bad idea – he needed his materia, and the bracers that he kept them in, and it didn’t look like she wore earrings…

“I’ve got it! How about one date?”

Aerith laughed. “Don’t be silly.”

Well, there went that idea.

Zack sighed and started to wander in a different direction, trying to think of something _else_ to do for Aerith, but she stopped him before he could take more than two steps.

“Stop! Don’t step on the flowers!”

Zack pulled his foot back before it could land in the greenery. “Excuse me?”

“Normally, people are more careful with flowers.” Aerith frowned at him.

“Oh. Whoops, sorry.” Zack made sure to give them a little more space. “Guess I was lost in thought. You don’t usually _see_ flowers in Midgar, though, much less this many. They’re like luxury items around here.”

The patch in the church was _huge,_ especially since they didn’t exactly grow everywhere. The slums always looked brown and dusty, and the landscape outside of Midgar looked very much the same. So seeing a bit of natural green was an amazing surprise.

“They only grow here,” Aerith said with a smile. “Although, I planted some outside my house, too.”

An idea tickled the back of Zack’s mind, and he couldn’t help but grin. “If _I_ were you, I’d sell them.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah! Midgar’d be full of flowers, and your wallet’d be full of money!”

Aerith frowned, then looked at the flower patch with a thoughtful expression. “Hm…Midgar full of flowers…you know, I never thought of it that way.”

“It’d probably help a lot, if you’re living down here. And you could get a lot of people smiling, too.”

Something shifted and fell into place at the back of his mind, and Sephiroth’s presence suddenly settled in with a mix of relief and confusion and what felt like a dull headache. The fact that he was there probably meant Zack wasn’t in as _much_ pain anymore, which was probably a good thing.

_-Zack, where-- -_

_-Church in the slums, apparently-_

_-Ah. Good. Then the headache I am feeling is not **just** coming from me. Come back to the tower. We’re going to need a report of what happened-_

_-Yeah, yeah, I’m coming-_

“Hey, uh…”

Zack trailed off when he saw Aerith’s expression shift from thoughtful to concerned. That made him frown.

“You okay, Aerith?”

“Hm?” Aerith blinked, then shook her head. “Don’t worry; I’m fine. It’s just…” She paused, frowned, then shook her head. “It’s nothing.”

“You definitely look like you’re worried about something, though.”

_-Zack, I can feel you dawdling-_

_-Just hang on, okay?-_

Aerith shook her head. “Just thought of something, that’s all. You shouldn’t be worried over me.” She looked at Zack with a smile. “You’ve got places to be, probably, right? The church’s exit is right over there.” She pointed past the pews that sat in most of the church, to the large doors on the other side of the building. “It was nice meeting you, Zack.”

“Y-yeah, same to you.” Zack looked around. “You, uh…you hang out here a lot, right?”

“Yeah.” Aerith shrugged one shoulder, then paused. “Do you know how to get where you’re going from here?”

That…was a good question. “Uh…I don’t think so. I’ve never been in a church in the slums before.”

“Well…how about I guide you to where you want to go?” Aerith tilted her head at Zack.

“Do you even know where I have to go?” Another thought slipped into Zack’s head, and he felt Sephiroth prod him impatiently because of it. “Or…do you want to spend more time with me?”

“Well—”

“Great! Then you can get me to the train station and we can get to know each other on the way, how’s that?”

Aerith looked surprised for a moment, then burst into giggles.

“I’m not hearing a no,” Zack said with a grin.

_-You are hearing one from **me,** Zack-_

_-Shush, I’m gonna get to know my new friend. I’ll get back to Shinra when I get to the train station, okay? It won’t take me that long to walk from a church in the slums to the train station. At least, I don’t think so-_

_-…fine. But don’t linger longer than you have to-_

Zack’s grin widened, but Aerith’s giggling meant that she wasn’t going to ask him about why he was grinning so much. He decided to block Sephiroth out for a bit, just so that he wouldn’t have to listen to the general’s impatient thoughts as he made his way back up to the Shinra building.

“Come on.” Aerith moved past him and towards the church’s large doors. “We’ve got a ways that we’re going to have to walk, since we’re going to have to go towards the central area of the sector. This area is still under construction, so there isn’t a way up onto the plate this far out.”

“It’s still under construction? But the church looks like it’s been here for a while already!”

Aerith shrugged. “It’s not like we can build everything in one day, you know.” She pushed the doors open and stepped out onto a dirt-covered landscape. Large pieces of metal and construction material were scattered everywhere, with people in construction uniforms running around. “I’d like to plant some flowers around this area, too, but I don’t want them to get crushed underfoot by what they’re doing.”

“Yeah, betcha there wouldn’t be too many happy people if they saw crushed flowers rather than actually surviving ones.” Zack nodded. “Crushed flowers aren’t as pretty anyway, right?”

“Nope.” Aerith shook her head. “And they don’t leave anything behind to grow in their place, either. I’d have to plant another in the same spot as the crushed one, and who knows how long that would live before something happened? No, it’s better to wait until they’re done here before I try to plant anything anywhere besides my house.”

Zack rested his hands behind his head. Walking with Aerith was slow, but she wasn’t a SOLDIER, so it wasn’t like she could move as quickly as he could. “You’ve gotta have a pretty good hand with those flowers, though. I don’t think I’ve seen that many flowers in one place in the city.”

“They really like growing in the church,” Aerith confirmed. “I think…I think it’s closer to the planet there, somehow.”

“Closer to the planet?” Zack frowned. “But…we’re close to the planet everywhere, aren’t we?” He stomped on the ground a bit, kicking up dust. “I mean, we’re walking on it right now.”

“But not when you’re on the plate.” Aerith pointed up at the steel sky above them. “And you fell from there, so you’re closer to the planet now than you were before.”

“Well…yeah, but—”

Something screeched, and a pair of fast monsters with spines on their backs rushed out from behind a pile of construction equipment.

“Monsters!” Aerith pulled back nervously. “Zack, we should run and—”

“Nah, I can handle these guys.” Zack grabbed Hard Edge off his back and grinned. Lucky him that the weapon had come along with him for his fall from the plate! “I’ve gotta protect you while you get me to where I need to go, right? So sit back and watch!”

As he cut them down, Zack remembered that Kunsel had said something about these porcupine-looking things at one point. Hedgehog Pies? Something like that. They were a nuisance in one of the sectors specifically, like how wererats and doomrats liked spending time in Sector 7 so much. Easy to take down in small numbers, but could overwhelm a SOLDIER if there happened to be enough of them in the same room.

“There, see?” Zack swung his sword onto his back as the monsters dissolved. “Nothing to it.”

Aerith was staring. “Wow…I think I’ll be really safe with you, Zack.”

“Yeah?” Zack grinned.

Aerith nodded. “You can actually beat up monsters. You’re a lot stronger than I am.”

Zack grinned, but then he remembered what had happened above, in the reactor. He hadn’t exactly shown his strength then.

_Angeal…._

“Is something wrong?” Aerith moved a step closer, frowning.

“H-huh?” Zack quickly recovered. “No, it’s – it’s nothing. I’m fine.” He turned and looked down at the two monsters. “These things weren’t tough _at all.”_ He turned to look back at Aerith. “So, did I look cool while I was fighting them off?”

The change in subject was noticeable, but Aerith went along with it. “Beats me.”

“Oh, come on…”

“Being cool doesn’t just mean you look it, I think.” Aerith moved past him, hands behind her back as her braided ponytail swung with each step. “You have to be a person that others think is cool, too.”

Zack moved to fall in step with her. “Yeah? Like a hero?”

“Hm, maybe. You don’t have to be a hero in order to be cool, though. Sometimes you can be cool just by being yourself, and people respond to that.”

There was something about the way Aerith said it, and the spark in her eyes, that made Zack tilt his head a little. “Do you…know people like that?”

“Maybe.” Aerith shrugged, smiling. “I spend a lot more time alone than around people, though.”

“You’ve got your flowers, though, so you aren’t really alone, are you?”

Aerith almost stumbled at Zack’s question. “I…no. I guess not.”

The soft smile on Aerith’s face made Zack grin. Yup, he was definitely going to make her into a friend, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. If she was alone, she was going to need someone to actually talk to sometimes.

\----

“I gotta say, chasing that kid around was _not_ how I thought my day was gonna go.”

Aerith giggled as she finished tying a new pink ribbon in her hair. “You’re still thinking about that? He’s going to be fine, Zack, I know he is. And now that everyone down here knows you were just trying to help, I don’t think it’s going to happen again.”

“It’d better not…” Zack huffed and folded his arms. “How does a kid like that have so much gil in his wallet…?”

“He probably saved it.” Aerith gave the ribbon another tug. “Hey…this looks okay, right? I can’t exactly see the back of my head, so….”

“Yeah, sure! But whatever you do with it, I think it’s gonna look fine.” Zack tilted his head as Aerith turned around, showing off the pink ribbon. His wallet was going to be complaining at him for buying it on his way back to Shinra, but he felt it was worth it.

Aerith was cool, knew her way around the people living in the slums, _and_ knew about a flower patch in the church that could be used to make a lot of other people’s lives brighter. That, and there was something about her that just made him want to get to know her better.

“It looks great!” Zack gave Aerith a thumbs-up as she turned back around. “Perfect, even!”

Aerith’s smile lit up her face like the sun. “Thanks, Zack! I’ll make sure to always wear it from now on. At least you’ll be able to recognize me at a glance if we run into each other again.”

“When,” Zack reminded her. “I mean, I’m gonna help you spread flowers around Midgar. Having one person do it all by themselves would take forever.”

“That’s true.” Aerith looked like she was about to laugh, but then her expression turned thoughtful. “Hey, you’ve still got some time before you have to go back, right?”

“I don’t see why I have to go back just yet.” Zack hadn’t felt Sephiroth trying to push at the barrier since he’d put it up. Things above plate probably weren’t as bad as they had been when Genesis broke into the building. “Why do you ask?”

“Let’s go to the park and hang out for a while.”

“Huh? Sure, why – hey!” Zack grinned widely. “That kinda sounds like a date!”

“I guess it does. Do you wanna go now, or….” Aerith glanced at one of the shopkeepers nearby, looking thoughtful.

Zack thought of his wallet. “Yeah, let’s go. I don’t think anything else around here is going to get my attention, anyway. How about you lead the way?”

“Sure!” Aerith almost bounced away from the market place and towards the park. “Say – when we were in the church earlier, it kinda looked like you were making faces at your thoughts. Were you thinking of anything interesting?”

“Huh?” He’d been making faces? When had – oh. “Not really, no. Just kinda arguing with myself about how much time I had before I needed to get back.” Telling her about Sephiroth being on the other end of his head would not be a very good idea. Not on a first date! “That’s when I decided I had enough time to hang out with you before going back!”

“Oh? You must’ve had some pretty vocal voices telling you to go back to wherever you came from.”

“It’s just one. And it’s not like I left at a pretty good time, to be honest…”

They left the marketplace as Aerith hummed. “Well, whatever it is, it’s probably not as much of a problem now as it was before. I get the feeling that you took care of a lot of the problem already.”

“I hope so.”

“Hope can carry people a long way, you know.” Aerith looked back at Zack with a smile. “Especially when things don’t look so good.”

“Yeah?”

“Mhm!”

Zack almost grinned. “Like how flowers would brighten up people’s days, especially with how rare they are in Midgar.”

Aerith laughed. “Of course you swing it back around to that.”

“It’s a good idea! And it’ll make you rich by the end of it, too, if you manage to get your flowers out to the rest of Midgar.” Zack rested his hands behind his head as they reached the park. It didn’t look like much of one, but the slums didn’t have as much compared to the world above the plate. A couple funny-shaped things that looked like animals to climb over made it look like the area was meant for kids.

“I hope so. I’d like for my flowers to brighten up other people’s days.” Aerith’s pace slowed. “Say…have you ever met any SOLDIER members?”

Where did that question come from?

“Maybe,” Zack replied.

“Do you think that they’re happy?”

Zack came to a stop and tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

Aerith stopped a couple steps in front of him. “Well, we’re told they’re heroes to children and protectors of the peace. But, they’re not normal. They get some kind of special surgery, don’t they?”

Aerith turned to look back at Zack as he did mental flips to find a way to answer Aerith’s question without giving away anything that Shinra _actually_ did. Like he was going to tell her about the mako injections and everything else they did to make a soldier a SOLDIER.

He settled for a shrug and a “So they say.”

“Normal is best,” Aerith said. “I think so, at least. Those SOLDIER people are kind of…weird.”

“Weird, huh?” Zack wasn’t sure if he should take that as a compliment or not, since it was coming from a girl who was scared of the sky.

“And they’re…scary.”

Ooh, she mustn’t’ve had a good first impression with a SOLDIER.

Aerith’s gaze was moving away from Zack. “They fight, and they love it.”

Zack got the feeling that wasn’t the _only_ problem, but he could see why Aerith might think that.

_Better to come clean about it than leave her to wonder._

“Actually, I’m with SOLDIER,” Zack admitted.

Aerith gasped and looked like she wanted to step back. “I’m sorry…”

Zack shrugged, then looked away and rubbed the back of his head. He couldn’t blame her for having a reaction like that, if all she knew about SOLDIERs was what she’d just told him. He wanted to give her more that would make her not as scared, but he needed to figure out what to say, _first._ Say the wrong thing, and he’d push this new friend away faster than his falling into the church.

“So pretty….”

Zack was shaken out of his thoughts by Aerith. Was she staring at him? “Hm? The face?”

Aerith giggled. Bingo, good direction to go in. “The _eyes.”_

Oh! Oh, this was a _better_ direction to go in. She could see something about being a SOLDIER that was a bit of a perk.

Zack moved closer, smiling. “You like them? Then take a closer look. Eyes infused with mako energy are a SOLDIER trademark, you know.”

He leaned over a little as Aerith looked up, letting her get close on her terms. It let him get a good look at her green eyes, too. They weren’t as bright as Sephiroth’s, but there was still something about them that felt…calming, somehow. Or maybe grounding was a better word?

“Oh, you.” Aerith pushed Zack back with a smirk that made him laugh.

“Color of the sky, right?” Zack had heard that comparison more than once.

“Uh-huh. But not scary at all.”

There we go, now she wasn’t scared of him. Zack counted _that_ as a win in his book.

“I do admit, though, things haven’t been normal at all lately.” Zack looked away for a moment, thinking about his connection to Sephiroth and everything with Angeal and Genesis. He checked his mental barrier and felt some satisfaction when he noticed it was still up. “What about you, Aerith? How’s your life going?”

Aerith laughed. “I was thinking it would be a normal day, but then suddenly some guy fell out of the sky.”

Zack almost laughed. “That’s not all that bad.”

“Nope.” Aerith hummed, looked like she was going to say something else, then frowned.

Zack _would_ have asked her what was wrong, except Sephiroth suddenly came crashing over the barrier, making him wince.

_-Zack, return to the Shinra Building **now.** Genesis has attacked us-_

Zack’s eyes widened. _-He what?? Again?-_

“Are you okay?” Aerith moved forward, looking concerned.

“I—yeah, I’m fine.”

_-Hurry back, **now** -_

“Just remembered how long it’s been since I gave you that scare, is all. I should probably get a move on.”

“Oh.” Aerith frowned, but then her expression relaxed. “Well, I guess I should get going, then. You remember where the way up is?”

“Yeah, I remember.” It was back in the shopping district of this sector of the city, and that was a section Zack wasn’t going to forget.

Aerith nodded, and started to walk away before she paused. “Will I see you again?”

No hesitation in answering that. “Well, yeah! Of course! Let’s exchange numbers so we can make sure it can happen.” He pulled out his PHS. “You’ve, uh…you’ve got one, right?”

Aerith nodded and produced her own. “They’re used by people down here, too, but they’re not all that common. I’m just lucky that way, I guess.”

“Very lucky.” Zack grinned as he punched his number into her PHS, then handed it back. “There we go! Now you can call me anytime! Or, almost anytime, anyway. I’ve got missions and things that need my attention, sometimes.”

Aerith nodded. “I hope that your friend’s okay, Zack. And that you don’t lose yourself.”

“Huh?” Where did that—

“You talk in your sleep,” Aerith said, looking sheepish.

He sure hoped that didn’t mean she’d heard him talking about Sephiroth, then. “Y-yeah. It’ll be fine. I _hope_ it will be, anyway.”

“You’d better _know_ it soon, then, because knowing is better than hoping sometimes.” Aerith gave Zack a nod. “See you later, Zack.”

Zack nodded back and watched as Aerith left the park, then followed after. _I like her a lot. Hope we actually can see each other again, despite whatever it is that Genesis is pulling._

 _-The connection is still open, Zack-_ Sephiroth thought in warning.

 _-Whoops!-_ Zack picked up his pace towards the marketplace.

_-Consider yourself lucky that no one has discovered a way to bug our **minds** yet. As it is, you shouldn’t be distracted by other people at a time like this-_

_-Sorry! It’s just – she helped me out when I fell right in front of her after what happened in the reactor. Better to let her get to know me than just run off and leave a bad first impression!-_

_-The situation with Genesis is even more pressing, Zack-_

_-…one of these days, you’re going to start picking up on what I do that makes people so eager to make friends with me, and then what are you gonna do?-_

_-Avoid mimicking you as much as possible-_

Sephiroth’s tone was dry, and it made Zack snort as he reached the passage that Aerith had pointed out to him earlier, when they’d arrived in the marketplace. _-Not gonna be easy. I already use some of your moves sometimes-_

_-Well, keep in mind that we were separate once. Whatever it is that this connection causes to happen, allowing ourselves to settle in sync again could become dangerous. If we think and act as one, it would make sense that we could effectively lose ourselves to each other-_

That sounded a lot like what Aerith had said. How had she—

_-Keeping our connection hindered will do more help than harm. Are you coming back?-_

_-I am, I am! Just hold your chocobos, man, I’m coming!-_

_-Good-_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A wild Aerith has appeared! :D Now we're just missing one other important person from Zack's life...he'll show up soon-ish. We've got a couple more chapters yet before we can reach him.


	16. Unnerving Revelations

Genesis copies and machines met him on the way up the car-less highway. Expected, since Genesis was attacking Shinra _again in the same day,_ but _really damn_ _annoying._

_-Don’t these guys know how to let up??-_

_-You could ask them that, but I’ve never known a Genesis copy to talk-_

Zack rolled his eyes. Sephiroth could have said that snarkily, but he was being serious. _-If any of these guys are alive afterwards we could try probab….ly…Angeal?!-_

_-Angeal?-_

Sephiroth’s confusion and alarm were felt as Angeal landed on the highway a few steps ahead of Zack. He had to slow down, or else he would have slammed into the white wings _and_ the Buster sword Angeal was holding.

“I need your help,” Angeal said as Zack went from a run to a walk.

“Do you?” Zack swung around the side of Angeal that had neither wing nor sword, frowning as he went. He could feel Sephiroth surging in, trying to focus more on hearing Zack’s conversation with Angeal. “After you brushed Sephiroth and me off in Banora? After you dropped me from Reactor 5? You’ve changed your mind? Just – what are you _thinking ,_ Angeal?”

“I’m not…really sure myself.”

Now it was Zack’s turn to stop as Angeal started pacing around him. “What do you mean? Is there something happening to you?”

“At times I feel as if my mind is mired in a fog. One of the few things that’s remained clear for me is my need to protect my honor, at least. So long as I hold my sword.” Angeal came to a stop behind Zack.

Zack glanced at Angeal and his wing, frowning when he saw the smaller, stunted one that was directly below the larger wing he’d spotted. They were standing back to back, so Angeal didn’t _seem_ to notice him staring. “You’re not…degrading, are you? Like Genesis? He’s got a wing, but….”

Zack had seen Angeal’s wings before, when he’d been dropped from the reactor, but as far as he knew, Angeal hadn’t been hurt before he’d gotten his. Unless Hollander had done something to Angeal to make him more like Genesis, but the wing was white, not _black,_ and Angeal had that smaller one underneath his besides.

Angeal shook his head. “I’ve been told I’m…different.”

“Good different or _bad_ different?” Zack could feel Sephiroth pressing in, looking for information. He sent back a view of his location, the Shinra building looming over the horizon, and Angeal with his fully formed and stunted white wings.

Sephiroth’s presence went quiet at the knowledge.

“I’m not certain yet. Zack, I need your help. Our enemy is all that creates suffering.”

That had to be the fog talking. “There are a lot of things that we can say do _that,_ Angeal. Can’t you be more specific than that?” Zack huffed. “Is it monsters? People?”

“Help me stop Genesis. Please.”

Now they were talking. “I thought you were all buddy-buddy with him and Hollander. It certainly seemed that way in the reactor, since all those monsters were running around with _your face_ on them.”

“The situation is complicated, Zack.”

“You and Genesis’ve _made_ it complicated.” Zack sighed heavily. “But fine. I’ll help. But you _have_ to promise to explain what’s going on and let us do more than just go after whatever it is that’s ‘creating suffering,’ okay?”

He turned to look at Angeal, but frowned when all he saw was a white feather.

And then an arm grabbed him from behind. “H-hey! What the—”

“Carrying you there will be faster than waiting for you to run.” Angeal started to lift them both up.

Zack grabbed Angeal’s arm, thinking first of making Angeal let him go, but when he saw how quickly the ground dropped out from under them made him think better of it. “Not that I’m doubting your strength, Angeal, but can that thing handle _both_ of us?”

“It should. Besides, I think you’ll like this. Flying feels pretty good.”

If it was under any other circumstances, Zack _might_ have liked it. As it was, his mind and Sephiroth’s were a whirl of emotion that made it difficult to figure out who was feeling more betrayed or more confused.

_Don’t lose yourself._

Zack took in a breath and pulled away from Sephiroth a little. He _really_ hoped that Aerith hadn’t heard him muttering about Sephiroth while he’d been unconscious. But then, how had she known to say _that?_

Sephiroth’s alarm spiked slightly as Angeal flew through a broken window and dropped Zack through it. He landed next to him in the corridor a moment later.

The fact that Sephiroth was ahead of them, cutting down a Genesis copy, made Zack almost wonder if the alarm had been because of his opponent.

_-We will talk about your new ‘friend’ later-_

_-Oh. Uh….-_

“You’re late,” Sephiroth said aloud in a flat tone. He turned to look at the two of them, his eyes narrowing as he looked over Angeal and his strange wings.

“Zack told you I was coming,” Angeal guessed.

“Not in so many words. What are you intending to do here?”

Angeal nodded, taking the change in subject in stride. “It’s safe to assume Hollander has ordered Genesis to eliminate Hojo.”

“Is this because he wants Hojo’s position?” Zack frowned.

Angeal nodded. “He believes Hojo robbed him of his rightful position.” He looked between them. “I know the two of you likely aren’t inclined to like or trust Hojo after what he’s been doing with you, but we can’t let Genesis kill Hojo just yet. He has something we need.”

“You want his research data.” Sephiroth frowned. “For Genesis, I assume?”

Angeal shrugged the shoulder his wings were attached to. “I have reason to believe he might be more willing to tell us what Hollander _won’t._ ”

That tickled a memory at the back of Zack’s mind. “Oh, yeah…he _did_ call you ‘Hollander’s boy’ a while ago. But – Project G was where _Genesis_ came from, so…where does that leave you?”

“Something we can deliberate on another time.” Sephiroth fixed them both with a frown. “I’m not as concerned about Hojo as you seem to be. He is capable of handling himself.”

“What do you—” Zack cut himself off. “What, you think he can control all the monsters he experiments on?”

“I don’t _think._ I _know.”_

Well, wasn’t that ominous. Then again, considering what they’d been subjected to in the Drum, it shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise to Zack.

Sephiroth inclined his head. “Genesis still has forces in other parts of the building.”

“You can handle those, then.” Angeal nodded. “I’ll take care of the forces outside. Zack, why don’t you go upstairs and make sure that Hojo gets out of this alive?”

 _-He really won’t need it-_ Sephiroth glanced at Zack before disappearing around a corner. _-We would be far better off not finding him-_

 _-If it gets us answers about Genesis AND Angeal, AND gets them to come back, I’m going-_ Zack shot back with a frown in Sephiroth’s direction. He nodded to Angeal. “Understood.”

Angeal gained a small smile. “Good luck.”

Zack stayed long enough to see Angeal jump out the window again before setting off for the research facilities.

_-What makes you think Hojo should be left alone, anyway? Other than the monsters, I mean-_

Sephiroth seemed slightly distracted by something, but he still found the focus to answer. _-He finds every opportunity possible to undertake experiments. I would not approach him while the facility is under lockdown like this-_

 _-Seriously?!-_ Suddenly Zack knew why Sephiroth was avoiding the man’s labs. _-As if being prodded on a normal day isn’t enough….-_ Hojo probably wasn’t going to test the connection again with just one of them there, but he was getting enough data that if he wasn’t aware of everything being in sync did by now, he _definitely_ was going to be aware of it _soon._

_-So long as you don’t end up in the middle of one of his experiments, you **won’t** be “prodded”-_

Zack’s expression shifted. _-Something tells me that’s easier said than done-_

_-Just check in on him and make sure he isn’t disturbed by the Genesis copies. Don’t let yourself end up in one of his experiments in the process-_

_-Getting him out of the building would be a better idea-_

_-Only if you can convince him to get away from his experiments-_

Zack scowled at the thought. Getting a scientist away from his experiments was easier said than done, but if they were going to keep Hojo alive and keep Genesis from getting to him, he was going to have to try.

Even if his neutral position concerning Hojo was starting to become more and more of a dislike.

More Genesis copies ran into him as he made his way to the research lab, but they didn’t slow him down for long. At least this part of the building was absent of Shinra people, although the fact that the research lab doors were wide open to let him in was more than a little concerning…

He found Hojo in the second floor of the labs, where there were a couple large containers that were clearly meant to hold something. Hojo was standing in front of an empty container with a clipboard.

Zack hung back near the elevator and waited. _-He’s just…standing there, staring at nothing in the tank-_

 _-Then he’s fine and you can leave him alone-_ Sephiroth replied. _-Come down to the lower floors and assist me here; he doesn’t need-- -_

“Is that a SOLDIER who’s entered my facility?”

Zack stiffened at Hojo’s voice. _-Uh oh; got spotted-_

_-Shit-_

Sephiroth swearing under any other circumstances might have been amusing. As it was, Zack couldn’t exactly stay back and hide.

“Professor Hojo, you need to evacuate.” Zack did _not_ move from where he was standing next to the elevator. “The building’s under—”

Hojo laughed. “Degrading monsters are nothing to fear, Zack Fair. Is Sephiroth with you?”

“No.”

“Ah. Pity. I would have liked to see how you were coming along. You two are certainly much better than anything like that memento from a bygone era.”

Zack frowned. “Do you mean Genesis?”

“Indeed. He is from a time when we deemed any unclassified life forms as an Ancient.”

“Unclassified life form?” _-Do you know anything about this, Sephiroth?-_

_-No, I-- -_

“Jenova, the calamity that fell from the sky,” Hojo said with a knowing sort of sneer.

_-Jenova? What the heck’s a Jenova?-_

Sephiroth’s end of the connection went dead silent faster than a barrier could go up. The speed of it made Zack almost stumble, and it left a hole in his head that made him feel sick to his stomach.

“Uh…”

“I am not concerned by your ignorance on the matter.” Hojo waved him off. “A SOLDIER’s duty is not to think – it is to protect men who think for them, like me.” He went back to looking at his clipboard.

Zack swallowed. Man, this guy was full of himself. But less worrying than Hojo was the fact that Sephiroth had gone completely silent.

_-Sephiroth? Hey, you okay over there?-_

_-….-_

_-I hope that’s just you focusing on fighting Genesis copies-_

_-…yes-_

_-Okay. Do you wanna talk about what Hojo said later?-_

_-…yes. Yes, I do. When Genesis has been flushed from the building, and we can talk to Angeal-_

_-Yeah. Definitely-_

“Why are you still here?” Hojo asked, making Zack jump. He motioned to the empty container in front of him. “Can’t you see that I am busy with my work? Shouldn’t you be concerned with destroying the remains that second-class Hollander has seen fit to send here?”

“W-we think he’s after you,” Zack replied.

“We? Ah, yes. You and Sephiroth are paired together. Hm. Well, if you wish to stay, you _could_ assist me with an experiment. Some new form of enhancements for SOLDIERs that I have been working on.”

“Can’t say that I need anything,” Zack replied evenly.

“You may say that, but if you are to become like Sephiroth, you will need _more_ than what you have already.” Hojo turned to frown at Zack. “I would recommend that you take the enhancements, rather than—”

Hojo cut himself off as something suddenly dropped from the ceiling. Well, not so much dropped as _floated,_ considering the flaring black wing, but it was still rather sudden.

“Ah! Well, look who’s here.”

Hojo was far less surprised by Genesis than Zack was. He had Hard Edge in hand immediately as Genesis raised his rapier to Hojo’s neck.

Hojo wasn’t the least bit fazed by the sight of the sword. “Hollander sent you, I assume? You think that if you’ll obey him, he’ll stop your body from degrading, is that it?” He shook his head. “Pitiful!”

_-Genesis is up here-_

Sephiroth didn’t respond to Zack’s message, which made him frown. _-Sephiroth, he’s-- -_

_-Keep Hojo alive. I would like **answers** from him-_

The intensity of Sephiroth’s message almost made Zack stand at attention, even though Genesis was _right there,_ weapon ready to take Hojo out.

Zack moved forward, pointing his sword at Genesis as Genesis continued to point his at Hojo. Hojo didn’t seem the _least_ fazed, as he simply burst out laughing.

“A second-rate hack like Hollander couldn’t cure a cold!” Hojo sounded amused at the idea.

The elevator rattled to a stop behind Zack. “Genesis, stop this!”

“Angeal?!” Zack didn’t dare to look back as his mentor stepped in. He didn’t want to take his eyes off Genesis, just in case he did anything that could potentially harm someone Sephiroth wanted answers from.

“What do we have here?” Hojo still didn’t sound threatened.

“’My friend, the fates are cruel,’” Genesis said grimly. “’There are no dreams, no honor remains. /The arrow has left the bow of the goddess.”

_-What does **that** mean?-_

_-I assume Genesis has spouted LOVELESS, again-_

“The entire cast of Hollander’s freak show!” Hojo exclaimed. He sounded _delighted,_ which sent a chill down Zack’s spine and carried over into Sephiroth.

“Don’t call them that!” Zack yelled, lowering Hard Edge. Was that just him, or was Sephiroth saying it too, somewhere else in the building?

“LOVELESS, Act VI,” Genesis moved the rapier away from Hojo’s neck and frowned at Angeal.

“Ah, yes, where the two friends challenge each other to a duel.” Hojo pushed his glasses up, looking between the two winged SOLDIERs. “An ancient epic. I read it thinking it might aid my research, but…pure drivel.”

Zack could have sworn he saw Genesis bristle.

“How does it end?” Angeal asked, frowning.

Hojo shrugged, not at all concerned with his life, even as two rouge SOLDIERs stood in the room. “Unknown. The last act is missing, and yet to be discovered.”

“There are various theories,” Genesis admitted. “But I doubt that someone like _you_ would be interested in hearing them.” He sneered at Hojo, who took the glare in stride.

Hojo huffed. “It does nothing for my research, so I have no need of it. Of course one of _Hollander’s_ would take up interest in something so trivial.”

Fire lit up Genesis’ free hand, and a large fireball collided with the empty specimen tank, exploding it and the wall behind it. “The gift of the goddess is not one that you will be allowed to reach, Hojo. That I am absolutely certain of.”

“Oh? How interesting, when no one knows what the gift _is.”_ Hojo definitely wasn’t taking any of this seriously. Or, if he _was,_ but he wasn’t letting it show for some weird reason. “But do go on. I suspect that you won’t be able to obtain it, either.”

Genesis’ expression contorted, and he turned and took off through the hole without a word.

“Genesis, wai—”

Zack’s yell turned into a yelp as Angeal grabbed him from behind and took off after him. Zack gripped his mentor’s arm with one hand as extra security, in case Angeal’s grip loosened.

“Hojo said something that spooked Sephiroth,” Zack said to Angeal as they flew to the roof of the Shinra building. “I have no idea _why.”_

“Why are you telling me this?” Angeal responded.

“Because there’s clearly a lot more going on other than Hollander leading Genesis along to do whatever he wants? Angeal, we need to work together to get answers, and I don’t think Hollander’s gonna—”

Zack was cut off when he caught sight of the giant summoning circle that had appeared in the sky as they reached the roof. He could just _barely_ see Genesis on the other side of it.

“He’s summoning?!”

“Zack, you handle the summon.” Angeal dropped him on the roof.

“Angeal!”

“Trust me. You can handle this!” Angeal turned his attention to Genesis and promptly rammed into him, their swords clashing as they took to the sky.

“Ange—” Zack groaned. He started to grab his sword, then jumped as his PHS went off. “What in…”

He pulled out his phone and held it against his ear. “Hello?”

_::Hey, Zack! It’s Aerith!::_

“Aerith? Hey, listen, can I call you back later?” The spell that actually _summoned_ the summon was still going, but who knows how long that was going to last for.

_::Later? Uh, sure, why?::_

“I have some company.”

_::Oh! Better not keep your guests waiting, then!::_

Zack put the device away as he faced the giant metal dragon that Genesis had pulled out of his materia. This form of Bahamut was going to be a heck of a fight.

_-We’ve got a big problem up here-_

_-I am busy myself-_

_-Whelp. Guess I get to take down this Bahamut Fury all by myself, then!-_

\----

Hojo huffed at the hole in the wall, then turned his attention back to his monitors and settled back into his research. He still hadn’t found a good candidate to add to Specimen Z and Specimen S, and with everything that was going on with Hollander’s experiments, he wasn’t going to be able to have the time in the near future. Of all the lousy times for Hollander to attempt to take his position. The man had no sense of time, if he couldn’t wait to do this until _after_ he had found a way to continue his experiment without needing to watch his assistants every waking moment.

Rebuilding the lab was going to put off any further experiments as well, much to his frustration. But _that_ only meant they would have more time to progress towards what he wanted out of their connection. Perhaps he could sneak more of Jenova—

Hojo paused. Ah. He’d left that slip to Z, hadn’t he? Z wouldn’t keep that a secret from S.

 _Especially_ if they continued to merge on a mental level.

Still, the thought made a grin cross Hojo’s face. “Well. Perhaps it is time I prepared for the next part of my theory. It’s a little sooner than I would have liked, but – well. I’m sure that no one would mind if I sent them to Nibelheim once Hollander’s experiments have been….properly disposed of.”

He chuckled to himself. The Reunion was coming, whether Sephiroth was aware of it or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something tells me that human error is going to keep your plans on hold for a while longer, Hojo.
> 
> Also, yes, he lets that slip to Zack in the game. I could think of a good way to keep him from spilling the beans here, but it works for what I want to happen. So there.
> 
> You guys can probably guess what's going to come next week! Whether or not things will turn out well, well....you'll have to wait and see.


	17. Secrets and Truths

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads-up, there's a Lot of Italics in this one. Zack and Sephiroth have a nice, long conversation over their mental connection.

As the Bahamut summon dissipated into pieces, Zack frowned up at the now-empty sky with the kind of glare that only came about because your winged mentor and his winged friend had both abandoned Shinra and left you behind.

_-Great…they used the summon for cover. Now what?-_

_-Come to my office. **Now-**_

When Sephiroth worded it like _that,_ Zack wasn’t about to argue. _-This is about what Hojo said?-_

_-Among other things-_

Well, wasn’t _that_ ominous.

Zack picked up his pace, slipping in and out of the president’s office as fast as he could before hitting the elevator and zipping down to the SOLDIER levels. He turned over what Hojo had said in his mind, frowning. Angeal, Genesis, and Hollander were _all_ connected, and now there was something about what _Hojo_ knew that set Sephiroth off faster than an infantry soldier’s itchy trigger finger.

Did Sephiroth know something about the Jenova that Hojo had mentioned?

_-I will discuss **that** in my office, Zack-_

Oh, right, connection was wide open.

_-I’m almost there; are you sure we should be doing this while things are still in-- -_

_-Angeal and Genesis were confirmed to have left the scene while you were finishing off the summon, and the Genesis copies and the stolen machinery have all been taken care of-_ Sephiroth’s voice was curt and short, and didn’t really say but still implied that he wanted Zack in his office _five seconds ago._ It certainly made Zack want to jump up and down in the elevator in order to get it to move faster. _-Taking some time to write our reports of the incident together while discussing this will not gain us any unwanted attention-_

_-If you say so-_

The elevator eventually came to a stop, and Zack scrambled out and made a beeline for Sephiroth’s office. A few Second and Third-Class SOLDIERs scrambled out of his way as he came flying past, but he didn’t stop until he came skidding to a halt in front of Sephiroth’s office.

Zack didn’t bother to knock as he stepped in, only to stop short as he closed the door behind him.

Sephiroth was sitting at his desk, head in his hands, and his hair looking like a ruffled, unraveling _mess._ The fact that his mental state was struggling not to look the way Sephiroth did was definitely saying something.

 _-Do not speak aloud for this-_ Sephiroth raised his head slightly and frowned at Zack. _-I do not want our conversation overheard-_ He motioned for Zack to take a seat in an open chair.

 _-Why, is it dangerous?-_ Zack leaned Hard Edge against the chair and sat down, frowning.

 _-Potentially-_ Sephiroth took in a breath, but Zack could feel a rumble of emotions just under the surface. Mostly confusion and betrayal, but the emotion that seemed to be winning out was a growing undercurrent of dread.

_-…Hojo always told me that Jenova was the name of my **mother-**_

Zack’s mind came to a screeching halt. _-You – but – **WHAT?!-**_

Sephiroth winced at Zack’s mental shout and gave him a withering look. Zack ducked his head in response.

_-I…sorry, it’s just – how does that **work**?-_

_-Play the memory back for me, first. I wish to know the **exact** details of what Hojo told you-_

_-Y-yeah, okay-_

Zack breathed in and went back to what had happened mere minutes ago, before his fight with Bahamut, and after he’d entered the labs.

Sephiroth grabbed onto the memory as soon as it focused, and forced it to play back.

Immediately, Zack felt himself tugged into the memory of what had been, walking into the lab and seeing Hojo standing there alone, followed by the conversation that had made Sephiroth go silent for longer than he’d liked.

_“Jenova, the calamity that fell from the sky.”_

The memory played through the rest after that, revealing Angeal and Genesis’ arrival and what Hojo had to say about them. Zack almost flew out of the lab with Angeal again when Sephiroth abruptly yanked him into the present and almost out of his chair as his body tried to follow through.

Zack caught himself and gripped the arms of the chair; the metal crunched under his hands as he looked up sharply at Sephiroth, who didn’t _look_ alarmed, but certainly _felt_ it. Zack could see it in his eyes, too, the way his cat-slit pupils were trembling the slightest amount.

It was unnerving, to put it lightly.

Sephiroth closed his eyes for a moment and forced the burning emotions to calm themselves as best he could. The roiling mass turned into a troubled calm in seconds, which left Zack staring.

 _-Clearly, there is…something…that Hojo isn’t telling me-_ Sephiroth folded his hands in front of him on his desk, frowning. _-Or **us,** rather-_

_-Us? What do you mean?-_

_-Ever since we developed this connection, Hojo hasn’t attempted to have me work alone in order to reach other SOLDIERs-_ Sephiroth tilted his head slightly. _-Nor has he worked with you for the same. Don’t you find that odd?-_

 _-You mean, because he hasn’t tried to…-_ Zack frowned. _-You know what, yeah, it **is** kinda weird. Kunsel hasn’t said anything about Hojo testing any new recruits since before Genesis and Angeal-- -_ He cut off that train of thought and shook his head. _-You think he’s got something planned-_

 _-You **can** read my mind-_ Sephiroth nodded slightly. _-It would be impossible not to have the beginnings of one after this revelation-_

_-So…what are we gonna do? Are we gonna-- -_

_-We are **not** leaving Shinra in the same manner that Angeal and Genesis have-_ Sephiroth’s frown became so severe Zack almost wished he could phase through the chair and out the door like a ghost. Except that wouldn’t let him get away from Sephiroth’s thoughts. _-We have to feign continued loyalty if we are to get the information we **want** from Hojo and his infuriating data-_

_-…but can we trust him? I mean, he said Jenova is the name of your **mom-**_

The emotional turmoil came back as Sephiroth shifted in his chair. His expression seemed to _want_ to contort into something more dangerous, but he kept himself physically calm. Mostly. His eyes looked like they wanted to set off sparks and catch something on fire. _-We don’t have all the information we need, and that is the singular issue to leaving Shinra. Even if we were to locate where Hollander, Genesis, and Angeal are hiding, we would not be able to get our answers from them. If you recall, the notes in Hollander’s lab in Reactor 5 suggested that he still considered the creature they found was an Ancient, and Hojo said Genesis – Project G – came from a time when they named any life form they **found** an Ancient-_

 _-We don’t have all the pieces-_ Zack leaned back in his chair and folded his arms, frowning. His gaze moved up to the ceiling, and a part of him wished he could drill a hole up to the labs with his eyes so that he could bore a hole in Hojo’s skull and get the answers out of him _that_ way. _-Man, this is **really** frustrating-_

_-It is-_

_-So, we’re just going to play along? Let them think what they want?-_

Sephiroth nodded. _-Hojo can’t read our minds, as often as he gains data from his little experiments. The best we can hope for is that his machinery continues to remain that way-_

_-Well, yeah, but – how are we gonna get our other answers? I mean, I could ask Kunsel-- -_

_-No-_

Zack frowned and looked back at Sephiroth. _-He’s good at this info-gathering stuff. **And** he’s got a lot of dirt on Hollander already-_

 _-If Hojo were to find him….-_ Sephiroth’s thoughts trailed off into grim images that made Zack see green mako tanks and feel prickling needles against his skin in places that he _definitely_ hadn’t been pricked by needles. _-No. We will have him search for other information. There must be something about Hollander’s research that we don’t know anything about yet-_

_-But what about-- -_

_-If he comes across anything that affects us, **without** getting himself turned into a research experiment, then we will take that to our advantage-_

Zack considered that, then nodded. _-Yeah. Kunsel’d probably call that a good compromise, too. He’s always been pretty cautious about getting information anyway-_

 _-Good-_ Sephiroth nodded. He reached for a stack of papers sitting on his desk and grabbed the top half. _-I wasn’t lying when I said we were going to write our reports of the incident together, Zack. Don’t think that our time here is over-_

_-Oh, come on!-_

_-I mean it, Zack-_

Zack sighed heavily, then accepted the report form and the pen that Sephiroth handed him. _-Great. Looks like I’m gonna have to call Aerith later….-_

_-Aerith?-_

Zack blinked and looked up at Sephiroth’s confused frown. _-The girl I was with. The one who was there when I woke up after my fall from the reactor-_

_-Ah. You gave her your number?-_

_-Well – yeah! I promised I’d help her sell flowers in Midgar! It’s only gonna happen in my free time when I’m not doing missions, obviously, but I wanna give her some help-_ Zack started working at filling out what he needed, thinking about the new friend he’d made below the plate. _-She’s weird, but in a good way. She’s never seen the sky because she lives under the plate, and she grows flowers in places they normally don’t-_

Zack’s writing paused as a frown crossed his face. _-She did say something odd, though, before I got back up here. “Don’t lose yourself.” Then she said I talk in my sleep. It’s weird-_

Sephiroth inclined his head. _-Do you?-_

 _-Well, I remember thinking I was talking to my mom about how I didn’t know what to do about Angeal, but…I don’t remember saying anything about the other thing-_ Zack frowned and tapped his pen against the beginnings of his report.

It definitely _was_ weird, now that he was thinking about it. Now that they were _both_ thinking about it, really.

_-You are planning on seeing her again-_

_-I mean…that’s the **thought,** yeah-_ Zack rubbed the back of his head.

_-I see no problems in this. Perhaps continued visits will let you find answers for her behavior. In the meantime, I will see what I can find-_

Zack blinked, then frowned at the look that was crossing Sephiroth’s face. “What’re you—”

“There are some things that _I_ can look into that your rumor-spreading friend cannot. I wouldn’t recommend looking into my thoughts for the next few days. You may find information that you don’t need for the immediate future.”

“Sounds good. I’ll just ask for it when we start looking into Hojo more.” Zack paused. “Which…when will we need that?”

“When we have everything we need to know—” _\- --about **me.** Otherwise doing something about Hojo before then will not be useful-_

_-You?-_

Sephiroth hesitated. Something told Zack that Sephiroth had suspicions, but nothing certain about what he knew. Not yet, at least.

“Well, you’ve got a better idea of what you wanna do than what I do,” Zack remarked. “So…I guess I’ll leave you to it, there. But if you need anything—” He tapped the side of his head and grinned.

Sephiroth resisted the urge to roll his eyes, which made Zack almost laugh when he felt it. “I will make sure to remember that. But it would be wiser for now if we did what we could elsewhere, and watch for Angeal and Genesis in the meantime.”

_-Think we can bring them to their senses and get them away from Hollander?-_

_-Perhaps. But we shouldn’t attempt such a thing until we can reach them-_

_-Right!-_

Zack started to get up, but he sat back down at a look from Sephiroth.

“Finish that, and _then_ you can go.” Sephiroth pointed at the report.

“Oh…right. Yeah, that’d be kinda important.”

\----

“Hey, Zack, what’s up?”

“Huh?” Zack turned as Kunsel approached. A few days later, and he was back in their usual hangout spot, but some of the furniture was new. A couple Genesis copies shredded the old stuff during the attack. “Oh, uh…nothing. Just wondering where Sephiroth is, mostly.”

“Oh, you didn’t hear?” Kunsel tilted his head. “He’s sealed himself up in the data room. I’ve heard he’s looking for more information on the science department. If you’ve been trying to reach him, it’d make sense that you haven’t been able to – we’re not allowed to have communication devices in there.”

“Really?” Well, Zack wasn’t exactly looking to poke Sephiroth _yet,_ but if he was working through a lot of information that he didn’t need, then it make sense that he wouldn’t want it bleeding over and distracting Zack. “Have you been in there or—”

“A couple times. SOLDIERs like me don’t really get the chance to go into places like those all that often, especially since we’re supposed to be here to fight for Shinra, not collect and read through data for them.” Kunsel shrugged. “They’ve got a lot of loopholes that Sephiroth and other Firsts can use, though, but it seems that Sephiroth has been using them a lot more lately. It makes me wonder if he _really_ needs me to look into the stuff he asked him for.”

“Oh, he still does.” Zack snorted. “I mean – the data rooms don’t have _everything,_ I bet. We just need someone keeping his ear to the ground in case something comes up. And you do a lot better at that than anyone else I know.”

“You flatter me.” A smirk flicked across Kunsel’s face, but it was gone a moment later. “And you’re right, the data rooms don’t have everything. The more sensitive information is likely being held in a different location that isn’t public, just in case any scientists get any ideas and want to steal information from their coworkers. I’d like to know what you want all this information for though, Zack. Hunting down Hollander is all well and good, but we haven’t heard anything about where he’s been seen recently, even with the attack on the tower. We just know where some of his old labs _used_ to be, in Banora, and a handful of rumors that no one’s been able to confirm yet. I know you and Sephiroth are friends with Angeal, but…isn’t this going a bit far in wanting to track him down and bring him back?”

Zack blinked at the question. “I don’t think so, no. I mean, Angeal and Hollander are _kinda_ connected.” He glanced around, making sure no one was nearby, before adding in a lowered voice, “I mean, Hojo called Angeal _and_ Genesis ‘Hollander’s freaks.’ If that doesn’t scream suspicious, I dunno _what_ does.”

Kunsel’s head dipped down slightly. Zack assumed that meant he was frowning, since Kunsel was _still_ wearing his helmet. “It does. And Sephiroth is looking into this?”

“Probably? I can’t read his mind.” Not right now, anyway. “But if Hollander’s done stuff to people….”

Zack let Kunsel come to his own conclusions, and judging by the nod, Kunsel had reached the ones that Zack and Sephiroth were going to need him to. “So he’s looking into everything.”

“Maybe. Like I said, I don’t know what’s going through his head, but…” Zack shrugged. “Hojo’s dangerous, though. If you want to go digging—”

“Who do you think told you to stay away from him?” Kunsel nudged Zack and laughed. “I know how to be careful, Zack. You just remember to be, too.”

“I can be careful! You don’t know half the stuff I get up to when no one’s looking.” Zack grinned.

“You mean like the attempted prank you made when the entire cafeteria exploded two months ago? Zack, that wasn’t entirely original.”

“What? No, that one wasn’t me.” Zack snorted. “That was probably another Second who got twitchy. The cafeteria food doesn’t need me doing anything to it to make it get worse on its own and explode like that, _believe me._ Elevator music, on the other hand—”

Zack’s PHS chose that moment to go off.

Kunsel was smirking. “Elevator music, huh? Which elevator?”

“Something tells me you already know.” Zack grabbed his PHS, grinning. “Go on, shoo. I’m sure you’ve got people to eavesdrop on before things quiet down.”

“Heh. Maybe I do.” Kunsel gave Zack a wave and walked away, leaving Zack to answer his caller in peace.

A quick glance at the ID told him all he needed to know. “Hey, Aerith! What’s up?”

_::Oh, nothing much. You’re a very difficult man to get a hold of!::_

“I don’t mean to be. Sorry about that.” Zack looked sheepish, and he was pretty sure Aerith could hear that. “Things have been kinda hectic up here for a bit, but they’re calming down now.”

_::That’s good to hear. So…do you think you can come down here and make it for me?::_

That was a weird question. “Make wha – oh! The flower—”

 _::The flower wagon, yes! Did you forget?::_ Aerith’s tone sounded concerned, not the least bit teasing. Zack was going to have to fix that by getting her into a better mood.

“Of course I didn’t forget! I’ve just been busy, is all. Just hold on, I’ll be right there.”

_::Good. I’ll be waiting!::_

Zack pocketed the phone as Aerith hung up, grinning as he walked to the elevators. It may have been a few days, but the fact that Aerith remembered _and_ was waiting for him to get down to Sector 5 made him eager to see her again. A new friend in the slums who _wasn’t_ scared of him was a definite victory in his book.

Besides, maybe this time he could ask her what he’d said while he was unconscious, after falling from the plate. Had he _really_ sad anything that would make Aerith say what she did?

_“Don’t lose yourself.”_

Zack mulled that over as he left the Shinra building and walked from Sector 0 to Sector 8, then down to the train station between 8 and 1.

The first thing that came to mind was that he was being told not to let him and Sephiroth merge together into one person in two bodies, like what they did when they fell in sync in a fight. Or, it could be that she didn’t want him to lose himself to the violence of his job, which kinda made sense. Aerith wasn’t fond of the idea of SOLDIERs liking fighting, so she didn’t want to lose him to that.

“Except I’ve fought a lot already….” Zack frowned, thinking of Wutai and the monster missions he’d gone on.

He hoped Aerith would be willing to tell him what was going through her head with that. He didn’t know what would happen if an innocent citizen found out that two SOLDIERs could talk to each other with their thoughts and she happened to be a friend of one of them, which carried over to them both. At least, that’s how Zack thought of it. Sephiroth probably had a different opinion, because he hadn’t _met_ Aerith yet, but that would probably change sooner or later, depending on how things went.

Taking care of what was going on with Angeal and Genesis was probably going to happen before he could introduce Aerith to Sephiroth, though. Probably for the best, considering how intense Sephiroth was.

\----

The train ride down wasn’t all that eventful. Sure, he got a couple stares, but people probably assumed he was taking a monster mission in the slums and left him alone. He took the time that he had to make sure his and Sephiroth’s mental barriers were still up. They were, but Sephiroth’s focus on his task was bleeding through so strongly Zack almost got tunnel vision and a need to _read_ something before he pulled back and shut himself off again.

Zack hopped off the train and cut through the marketplace. A few people shouted hellos, and teasing calls of “Don’t lose your wallet this time, SOLDIER! Aerith can’t help you out all the time!”

“Not like I got much to steal anyway!” Zack called back as he left the marketplace. Still, he checked his pockets and nodded when he felt his wallet was still there. The Steal materia the kid had given him was still sitting in his apartment, unused. Stealing stuff wasn’t honorable, no matter what Angeal said about him stealing dumbapples when he was a kid in Banora.

The sound of flapping wings behind him made Zack wonder if his train of thought was _really_ good at creating coincidences.

“Angeal!” Zack whirled around as Angeal landed. “What was with that disappearing act before? And where’ve you _been?”_

“Sorry, Zack. I’ve…been busy lately.” Angeal didn’t look like he wanted to move closer to Zack, so Zack didn’t run up to give him a hug, as much as he wanted to.

“Busy with what?” Zack frowned.

“Something. How’s Sephiroth?”

“He’s holed up in the data room reading old reports.” Zack shrugged. “He asked me not to bother him, so I’ve been leaving him alone.”

Angeal’s expression hardened slightly. “I see.” He started to turn around, and Zack saw his mentor’s wings flick, like they were ready to take off.

“Hey! Did you just decide to land to check on me while you were going somewhere?” Zack almost stepped forward, but he decided against it. He knew Genesis was fast with _his_ wing; it only made sense that Angeal would be fast with his, too. They were both Firsts.

“Genesis and Hollander are in Modeoheim,” Angeal replied over his shoulder.

Zack’s breath caught. “What? Really?”

“Yes, Zack. Really.”

“Why’d you come to tell me that, though? Everyone thinks you’re partnered up with _them,_ so what reason would you have to tell me that?” Zack paused. “Are you…did Lazard let you join us again? Even after you got labeled KIA?”

“I’m not working for SOLDIER anymore, Zack,” Angeal replied. “Although, I suppose you could say I’m still a SOLDIER at heart.”

“Then come back!” Zack took a couple steps forward. “Please, Angeal, don’t keep doing this!”

“I’ve told Lazard about this.” Angeal looked back, saddened. “He’ll be sending someone to find you soon for this.”

“Then stay here and come with us! Help us talk down Genesis from whatever it is that Hollander’s doing! Cause it can’t be good, there’s no way that it could be.”

Angeal turned to look at Zack again. “And Hojo? What about his actions?”

“Honestly? Sephiroth doesn’t like him, and after what he– “ Zack cut himself off and shook his head. Telling Angeal about Jenova was probably not the best idea. “Sephiroth’s pretty shaken by what happened. He could use another friend who isn’t about to stab him in the back for another scientist because Hollander asked for it. _Please,_ Angeal. Whatever Hollander wants, don’t do it. Stay with us. _Please.”_

Angeal hesitated, looking surprised for a moment before his expression became more conflicted. He shook his head. “I can’t. I’m sorry, Zack.”

Zack could see Angeal’s wing flare. He started moving forward. “Angeal, wait—”

Unfortunately, Angeal was flying off before Zack could catch up to him, and with the speed that wing went at, it would be difficult for Zack to keep up with him, much less catch up with him when Angeal landed.

He huffed and frowned sadly at his retreating mentor’s back. “Angeal….”

Just what _was_ it that Hollander was holding over his head?

Zack frowned and reached for his PHS, thinking about calling Kunsel or _somebody_ to talk to about this. Sephiroth was still barricaded away, but—

Zack’s eyes widened. “Oh, right! Aerith!” He turned and took off at a run towards the church. “Oh, man, I hope she won’t mind me taking this long to get there!”

He was opening the church’s doors when a voice from behind almost caught him by surprise.

“Zack, I need you in Modeoheim!”

“ _Tseng?_ ” Zack turned and blinked in surprise. “How’d you get here so fast?” He shook his head. “Nevermind, probably Turk secrets or something. Can you just give me a minute before I head back up?” He started to turn back to the church doors.

“Aerith isn’t there.”

Zack froze. “What? You – how do _you_ know Aerith?”

Tseng’s eyes narrowed. “It’s complicated.”

“Really. More complicated than me?” Zack heard the faint sound of a chopper in the distance. At best, they were going to fly him back to Shinra before they left for Modeoheim. Or, they were going straight there.

“Hm. Did she tell you anything?” Tseng was definitely avoiding putting Zack and Sephiroth on the same scale as whatever was going on with Aerith.

“Tell me what? All that happened was I crashed through the roof and we hung out for a couple hours. That was before I rushed back up to Shinra and got stuck there while everyone was running around repairing the damage Genesis and his copies did.”

“Then I won’t say anything.”

The chopper landed behind Tseng. The Turk didn’t look the least bit ruffled by the wind and dust the spinning blades was kicking up.

“…well, I guess it isn’t any of my business, then.” Zack shrugged and walked down the steps, away from the church. “Everybody’s got their secrets, right?”

“Glad you see things that way.” Tseng stepped aside. “We’re going now.”

“Glad I’m already prepped.” Zack grabbed Hard Edge’s hilt for a moment, then stepped up to the chopper. “Sephiroth not coming, I guess?”

“No one has been able to remove him from the data room,” Tseng replied evenly. “Have you—”

“Nah, he asked me to stay out. He probably thinks I can handle this myself, and if I need him I can try to give him a poke.” Zack exhaled as the chopper opened up. There was a pair of troopers sitting inside already, and a couple open seats for him and Tseng.

_Just hang on, Angeal. Whatever’s going on, we’ll get to the bottom of it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys know who's showing up next chapter. :3


	18. Mountain Boy

A helicopter crash did _not_ bode well for the Modeoheim mission.

Zack huffed in annoyance and pushed himself up to his feet, brushing snow off his uniform. “Well, that’s a fine how-do-you-do! Talk about a warm welcome!”

Crashing into a cold mountain range with snow everywhere was not Zack’s idea of fun. Mako enhancements would keep him warm enough, SOLDIER that he was, but he was starting to wish that he had something to keep the nipping cold at bay. Getting frostbite here wasn’t going to do him _any_ good, especially if he got into a fight against a monster out here. Or Genesis copies, for that matter.

He turned to look at the helicopter, which he’d managed to get clear of. “Everybody okay? Tseng? Guys?”

Tseng was already on his feet, checking his PHS, while the two troopers were on their knees, catching their breath after the rough landing.

Zack sighed in relief. “Good, good! Was kinda worried some of us wouldn’t be able to make it out of that.”

Tseng sighed in irritation and closed his PHS, while the troopers got to their feet. “No signal out here. We’re on our own.”

Zack tilted his head and lowered his barrier enough to get a sense of Sephiroth, but he only got static back. Lost signal for him too, then.

He raised the barrier and shrugged at Tseng when the Turk shot him a look. “Well, at least we landed in one piece, right? We should be fine. We just need to get to where we’re supposed to be.”

Tseng eyed Zack for a moment, then nodded. “Thankfully, we have someone used to this kind of terrain.”

Zack frowned for a second, then noticed Tseng looking at him and sighed. “Yeah, yeah. I’m a country boy.”

Something flashed across Tseng’s face for a moment, but it was gone before Zack could get a handle on it. He started walking past Zack, towards a cliff that formed a path around the mountainside. “All right, then. We would have reached Modeoheim by now if we hadn’t crashed. So, we’re going to need to make up for lost time.”

“All right. Follow me, then!” Zack moved to catch up to Tseng, then moved ahead of him. “And make sure to stick as close together as you can! Losing each other up here with no signal and in cold like this would be a pretty bad idea.”

One of the troopers snorted, but didn’t offer anything else as Zack started hiking up.

He grabbed Hard Edge and held it loosely in one hand, considering the path up ahead. There were probably monsters running around up here, or at the very least Genesis copies patrolling the area. If what Angeal said about Genesis and Hollander being in Modeoheim was true, at least.

“What I wouldn’t give for some _humidity_ around here,” Zack muttered as a pair of somethings tumbled down from somewhere further up the mountain. They looked like giant beetles. Well, at least _something_ around here reminded him of the jungles back home.

And then some large, flightless bird came screeching down from the top of the mountain, and Zack had to jump away before it landed on top of one of the bugs and crushed it under splayed claws.

 _“Great._ Of all the things to come from out of nowhere.” Zack readied his sword and went in swinging. The remaining bug and the bird both went down in a few hits and didn’t get to leave so much as a scratch behind.

“I hope you’re not planning on using any ice materia.” One of the troopers caught up to him, mouth pressed in a straight line. “That’d do nothing for the monsters that live around here.”

“Don’t worry, buddy, I know what I’m doing.” Zack glanced back at him, then looked to the path ahead. “I mean, they’re used to the cold up here, so fire or lightning would do me a lot better. I’ve got both on hand, so don’t worry about me.”

The trooper looked a little startled. “U-uh—”

“I could use someone keeping an eye out for my back, though. Wanna play target practice with the monsters up there?” Zack pointed up.

Another bird screech went off, and Zack jumped back as another flightless bird landed on the path ahead of them. He was halfway to cutting it down when a gun went off. A couple stray bullets caught it in the neck, and Zack sliced through it the rest of the way without any trouble.

“Not bad!” Zack called back. “But maybe be a little more careful about aiming that? Shooting that isn’t gonna do you any good if you can’t aim!”

A frustrated noise came out of the trooper, followed by a muttered string of words that Zack barely caught. “It’s standard issue. If I had _my_ pick, I’d pick something else.”

“Oh, yeah?” Zack glanced over his shoulder. “You got something in mind?”

The trooper jumped at Zack’s question. “I, you – you _heard_ that?”

“SOLDIERs have got tons of perks.” Zack tapped the side of his head, grinning. “So, come on. What’ve you got in mind for something you wanna use?”

The trooper seemed startled by the question. “I-I mean, uh – s-swords are pretty cool.”

“You think so?” Zack grinned. “Well, make sure you watch what I do as we go up, and you can decide on what you wanna do for real, okay? We’ve still got a ways to go.”

He turned and kept going up the path, sword at the ready for more monsters. The trooper’s boots started crunching snow behind him a few seconds later.

More monsters met their end at the edge of Hard Edge and to the sound of the trooper’s gun, but he didn’t shoot so much as stand and stare at Zack. Zack didn’t mind it – the trooper was a good shot, and probably would be a better one if he wasn’t wearing that helmet.

The trooper was _also_ keeping up with him, unlike Tseng and the other guy, who was lagging so far behind it was pretty clear that he wasn’t used to the mountain air. Zack wasn’t, either, but he had the mako to make up for it.

“Yo! Don’t fall too far behind!” Zack called back. He grinned at the trooper. “At least someone’s keeping up.”

The trooper didn’t seem as startled by Zack wanting to talk to him, this time. “Well, I’m a country boy, too.”

Consider Zack interested. “From where?”

The trooper slowed, allowing Zack to get a couple steps ahead before he came to a stop and turned. “Nibelheim.”

Zack burst out laughing. _Nibelheim?_ What kind of a name was _that?_

The trooper got riled up immediately. “How ‘bout you?” he demanded, almost daring Zack.

“Me?” Zack pointed at himself with a grin. “Gongaga.”

The trooper chuckled. Aha! A laugh for a laugh, but it made Zack curious.

“Hey, what’s so funny about that? You know Gongaga?”

The trooper didn’t shy away from Zack. It looked like he’d picked up that Zack wasn’t looking to threaten him. “No, but…it’s such a backwater name.”

“Ditto Nibelheim!” Zack gave an easy nod and turned to keep going.

“Like you’ve been there,” the trooper shot back.

“I haven’t, but there’s a reactor, right?” Zack glanced back with a raised eyebrow. At the nod from the trooper, he added, “A mako reactor outside Midgar usually means—”

“—nothing else out there,” the trooper joined in.

It was almost eerie, speaking in unison with somebody who wasn’t Sephiroth, but at the same time, something about this kid just clicked with Zack. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t like it. There was always something nice about meeting new people.

“Hey, good news, Tseng!” Zack called down to the Turk. “Me and—”

Oh, shoot, he didn’t get the kid’s name. He looked over at the trooper.

The trooper was in the middle of pulling off his helmet, revealing a shock of blond hair that stuck up in spikes in front. “Cloud.”

“Me and Cloud here are both backwater experts! Oh yeah!” Zack grinned at Cloud and saw the small smile flicker across the other’s face. Cloud seemed a little surprised.

“Good,” Tseng called back. “Carry on, then.”

Zack clapped Cloud on the shoulder. “Come on. They’ll catch up to us eventually.” He started moving ahead, and Cloud quickly fell in step with him. “I guess when Tseng said we had someone who knew the terrain, he meant you instead ‘a me, huh?”

“If Gongaga isn’t in a mountain range, I guess so.” Cloud looked up at Zack curiously.

“Yeah, got me there.” Zack laughed. “Gongaga’s in the middle of a jungle. I’m not as used to climbing up and down a mountain as you probably are. Did you have one in your backyard or something?”

“Something like that.” Cloud’s expression twitched a little, and then his gaze moved up. “We’ve got—”

A loud screech made Zack scramble for his sword as another one of those flightless monsters dropped in out of nowhere, followed by a second. “Damn, Cloud! How’d you know they were coming before I did?” No way was Cloud enhanced like a SOLDIER. His eyes were blue, sure, but they weren’t _glowing._

“They kick snow down the cliff when they’re coming after prey!” Cloud raised his rifle and started shooting and _man,_ was he a better shot without the helmet!

“You have these things in Nibelheim, too?” Zack ducked under the line of bullets and cut the head off one of the creatures while the other one collapsed. It was so stuffed full of bullets it probably could have been used as a giant metal club.

“Not the same, but you learn to watch for pouncing predators like that.” Cloud dropped his gun into a resting position in his hands. “These things aren’t as bad as the dragons up there.”

 _“Dragons?”_ Zack stared, wide-eyed. “You have _dragons_ in Nibelheim?”

“Yeah?” Cloud raised an eyebrow, almost challenging Zack.

“You ever fight one?”

Cloud snorted. “You think I’m an idiot? Nibel wolves are easier to handle than those things.”

Zack couldn’t help but stare. “ _Easier?_ The hell kind of mountain boy _are_ you?”

Cloud tilted his head back and grinned at Zack. “The _best_ kind.”

Zack blinked, then grinned widely. “Are you getting into SOLDIER?”

“That’s the plan.” Cloud’s blue eyes glinted with something that made Zack’s grin get even _wider._

“If you can fight Nibel wolves no problem, you can _definitely_ join SOLDIER.”

Cloud blinked in surprise. “I – you think so?”

There was so much surprise and _hope_ in his voice that Zack almost thought of a little kid being told his dream would come true. “Well – yeah! If you’re not scared of Nibel wolves, then doing everything else we do shouldn’t come as any kind of a problem for you!”

Cloud looked like he had been struck completely speechless. “I…wow.”

“What?” Zack frowned.

Cloud shook his head, recovering from his shock and putting on a more determined face. “Think you can show me some more tricks with your sword?”

“Sure!” Zack saw more snow tumbling down from the cliff above them. “Get ready for another demonstration!”

\----

At the top of the cliff path they’d been climbing, Zack came to a stop. “Looks like we’re almost there.” He glanced back at Tseng and the other trooper, who were still climbing up. “We should probably wait for them to catch up.”

Cloud glanced back as well, then looked at Zack. “Hey, Zack?”

“Hm?” Zack looked over.

Cloud shifted under Zack’s glowing gaze. “Uh…what’s it _like_ to be a SOLDIER?”

“What do you mean?” Zack blinked.

Cloud fidgeted, frowning. He shook his head.

“Whatever it is that’s on your mind, you’ll know when you get in,” Zack said.

Cloud’s shoulders sagged as he muttered, “ _If_ I get in.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it! If I can do it, you can, too. I mean, what kind of idiot _wouldn’t_ let someone who can fight Nibel wolves without enhancements into SOLDIER?” Zack grinned reassuringly at Cloud, then turned his attention to the path ahead. Better to have a look around while Tseng was still catching up, after all.

A frown crossed his face a moment later. “Hey, Cloud, look up ahead.”

“Hm?” Cloud looked over and frowned at the snow-covered buildings that sat in the snow up ahead.

“Let’s get a closer look. Try to stay low and out of sight, okay?”

Cloud nodded and started moving forward in a half-crouch towards the edge of the cliff they were on. Zack almost shook his head at the kid before following after, almost doing the same. Cloud was so _short_ compared to Zack, he probably didn’t need to be that cautious.

He rethought that a moment later when they reached the edge of the cliff, and Cloud peered over the edge on his hands and knees, frowning. He didn’t seem the least bit bothered by the snow that was no doubt seeping into his clothes. Zack wasn’t either, not really, but he was more willing to drop to one knee, rather than both.

“Those troopers don’t look right,” Zack remarked. “What kinda Shinra trooper wears red? And what kinda facility is this, anyway?”

Two pairs of footsteps came up behind them. “That’s a mako excavation test site,” Tseng said.

“A test site, huh?” Zack rose from his kneeling position. “I’ll go check it out. Got anything interesting about it, Tseng?”

Tseng’s expression hardened. “Our primary objective is to investigate Modeoheim. We can’t afford to lose people here. At the same time, we can’t afford to ignore the activities of the Genesis Army. Therefore…”

Zack knew where this was going. “Infiltrate while avoiding combat, right?”

“Exactly.” Tseng nodded to the compound below. “There’s an entrance at the back of that warehouse. Once you’re _inside,_ you can do as you like. But don’t let yourself be seen until then.”

“Hey, I can do that no problem! What do you take me for?” Zack frowned at Tseng. “SOLDIER isn’t all about muscle and brawn, I know that.” He nodded to Cloud. “Just watch and see how it’s done, kay Cloud?”

“Okay.” Cloud nodded.

“And make sure to watch your body temperature in this blizzard,” Tseng added. “If you stand still for too long, your temperature will decrease rapidly, even with your SOLDIER enhancements. Make sure to keep your temperature up, even when standing still.”

“Hey, no problems there. I’ve got the perfect thing in mind to keep moving.” Zack grinned. “I’ll just go in and have a look around. See ya in a bit!”

He took off down the path leading from the cliff and approached the wide-open gate leading into the compound, dropping into a half-crouch as he got close. He was taller than Cloud, so of _course_ he was going to have to move fast and low if he was going to stay out of sight.

The red-shirt troopers were walking around in circles, patrolling the compound on the surface. They looked like normal guys, but troopers wore _blue,_ not red, which meant they were some Genesis copy variant. Did that mean Genesis had taken off with troopers before, too? Or did that mean he was kidnapping people now?

Zack gritted his teeth at the thought and shook his head. He was going to have to move if he was going to get to the entrance that Tseng had told him about.

_I just need to get behind the warehouse and I’m in._

Zack breathed in, out, and stepped into the compound on light feet.

The snow was tamped down around here, so he wasn’t making any noise by crunching any of it underfoot. The helmets on the troopers looked standard issue, too, and Zack _knew_ that meant the eyesight was terrible.

He grinned quietly and slipped around the steel-cold warehouse to the tunnel at the back of the compound that led underground, and hopefully towards a proper heat source. He was pretty sure that Cloud and Tseng could see him reach it, since his black uniform stuck out so well against the snow. Still, he gave a quick wave to the cliffs before disappearing into the facility.

Where he was promptly met by a Genesis clone trooper and some kind of monstrous, red _thing_ that almost looked like a demonic Genesis. If that was even still possible.

“Yup, he’s here all right.” Zack frowned as he readied Hard Edge. “As if the lights and the _heat_ being on weren’t enough. Looks like Angeal wasn’t lying about that.”

Not that Angeal _was_ someone who’d lie, but…well, if he was working _with_ Hollander, it’d certainly give them trouble unless he could be convinced to _stop._

The underground part of the complex was _much_ bigger than the buildings up top made it out to be. It meant that there were more Genesis copies hiding out down here, but they didn’t last for long against Zack’s sword and the materia he had on him.

“Ah ha. Looks like there’s more to this place than just this level, too.” Zack came to a stop in front of what looked like a rickety old elevator. “No sign of Hollander _or_ Genesis yet, so I bet they’re down here somewhere.” He pulled out his PHS and glanced at it. “No signal. Of _course_ not. Well, whatever it is that Tseng is going to do, he’d better do it quick, ‘cause I’m going to get a closer look whether he likes it or not.”

Just like the lights, the elevator was, in fact, still working. Although, this one took him up, not down – maybe it went into that other building he’d seen? The one that wasn’t a rickety old warehouse?

Zack rested one hand on Hard Edge’s hilt and frowned at the steel walls on the other side of the metal fence of an elevator door. “Come on, Genesis, where are—”

He cut himself off with a hiss of alarm through his teeth when the elevator came to a stop at another platform.

Hollander was backing up slowly, hands in the air, while Genesis held his rapier to the scientist’s neck. And Genesis was _really_ starting to look worse for the wear – his hair was bleaching, and even his _clothes_ looked like they were losing color.

“The Jenova cells,” Genesis snarled as the elevator opened.

Zack’s breath caught. “What?”

He almost expected Sephiroth to surge in right that moment, but he was still back in Midgar, poking around in the data room for more information.

Well, Zack was going to do some poking now too.

He rushed forward and caught Genesis’ sword before he could swing it at Hollander. “What do you know about those??”

Genesis blinked. Whether he was surprised at the interruption or at Zack’s question, he couldn’t really say.

Hollander made a panicked noise and started to move away, but then a flash of spiky yellow intervened.

“Stop! You’re not going anywhere!”

“Cloud!” Zack looked over with a grin as Cloud grabbed Hollander from behind. “Good work! Now just keep him there until we can get some answers!”

“Answers?” Genesis inclined his head at Zack, frowning. “If you seek ‘the gift of the goddess,’ puppy, you are not going to be getting it here, much less from _me._ _You_ are not the one who is falling apart without it.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve got my reasons too.” Zack adjusted his grip on his sword. He heard Cloud yelp and hit the ground behind him.

“Nobody knows where the Jenova cells are being kept.” Hollander stepped up behind Zack. “Not even Hojo knows. You’ll never—”

“Okay, _that?_ ” Zack gave Hollander a pointed scowl. “I _really_ doubt that.”

“And what makes you think you know more than I do?” Hollander shot back.

“Maybe the fact that Hojo is the _head of the science department?”_ Zack shot back. “If there are _any_ dark secrets they know about, he’s gonna be aware of it. And do you _really_ think he’s gonna _share_ that with any of you?” He looked between Hollander and Genesis, frowning.

“In that case, perhaps another visit to Shinra is in order.” Genesis shifted his grip on his rapier. “I am certain Hojo would be…more inclined, to say something, if one of his _experiments_ was kept from him.”

Zack batted away Genesis’ sword with his own. “You’re _not_ keeping me hostage here. Not by a long shot.”

“Well, then we shall just have to see if killing you makes Sephiroth _weep,_ won’t we?” Genesis raised his rapier again, his expression a sneer. “And if I cannot find the Jenova cells that will _cure_ me, then I will accept my fate – so long as the rest of the world dies with me!”

Hollander made a strangled sort of gasping noise before he made a break for it. Genesis’ rapier slashed in his direction, but Zack caught it, first.

“Cloud, go!” Zack barked. “Get after him!”

“R-right!” Cloud took off at a run after the scientist. Hopefully the mountain boy would be more than a match for the potbellied old man.

Genesis grit his teeth and lunged for Zack, but Zack blocked the incoming blade with his own and pushed back. “You have some nerve, puppy, barging in with no grace, no poise.”

“I was taught _honor,_ not any of that!” Zack snapped back. “Look, you want to know about this Jenova stuff? So do we! There are a lot of things that we don’t have answers for!”

“You? You and who else?” Genesis danced away as Zack’s blade slashed towards him. For a man who was genetically falling apart, he was still hard to hit and equally quick with his blade. “You are not the one falling apart, _boy.”_

“Maybe not, but I’ve got questions, and I’m not gonna get any answers just by asking!” Zack threw out a hand, blasting Genesis in the face with a Blizzard spell in order to stop his advance.

Genesis parried with Fire, then unfurled his black wing. “Well! Convince me, then, that you are deserving of the answers you seek!”

The fight that followed would have been hard for anyone less than a First to keep up with, if they were watching. If Cloud had stuck around, he _definitely_ wouldn’t have been able to keep up with the sword strikes, or the way their hands moved in order to cast materia-held spells. Genesis’ fire left scorch marks along the metal floor as Zack did his best to avoid them, but one or two did hit their mark.

Despite Genesis’ clearly failing body, he was still performing far better magic than the average SOLDIER.

His _stamina_ , on the other hand, was another matter entirely.

Zack caught sight of an opening and slammed into Genesis’ side with his sword.

Genesis fell back, gripping his side and gritting his teeth. “’Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul./Pride is lost/Wings stripped away, the end is nigh.”

Zack held Hard Edge with a cautious expression as Genesis tried to keep his balance with his wing, only to collapse instead.

“Such is…the fate of a monster.”

“Bullshit,” Zack shot back. “We’re not monsters, we’re SOLDIER. No matter what Hojo and Hollander like to do to people, _we_ do a lot more than they ever do for us. Where’s your honor? Where’s the friend that Sephiroth knew, before all this happened?”

“Friend?” Genesis sneered as he pushed himself unsteadily to his feet. “You think that his ‘friend’ still exists? After everything that has occurred?”

“He _could,”_ Zack snapped back. “If you let him.”

Genesis chuckled, but the sound was hollow. “’The arrow has left the bow of the goddess,’ puppy. It is far too late for me to return to the person that I was. The degradation has made sure of that. Sephiroth will not see his old friend again. Even there, however, ’Even if the morrow is barren of promises,/Nothing shall forestall my return.’”

“That’d _better_ mean you’re planning on coming back and letting _us_ actually help you, instead of having Hollander order you around to do what he wants.” Zack started moving forward as Genesis stumbled back to the railing on the other side of the platform. “Genesis, _please._ You know something about Jenova. What is it?”

Genesis came to a stop and shook his head. “You are an insistent, stubborn puppy. What reason do you have, for wanting this knowledge from me?”

Zack hefted his sword, but he didn’t hold it in a ready position. “Hojo said Jenova was some kinda calamity. I dunno about you, but that does _not_ sound like something I’d want in me.”

“And what makes you think that he was telling the truth?”

“It doesn’t. Cause Sephiroth was told something _different._ ” Zack wasn’t about to say what, considering that Genesis might still want to hang out with Hollander. Who knew _what_ that old scientist would do with that information. “You think we know anything about what’s going on? Cause we definitely _don’t._ ”

Genesis frowned. “’Infinite in mystery’….and how am I to know you’re telling me the truth?”

“Come back and meet with Sephiroth. He’s researching stuff himself right now. And Angeal can come, too – he’s connected to all of this, right?”

Genesis gave a short huff of a laugh. “More than you realize.”

“Then we could work _together_ to get the answers, mad scientists be damned!” Zack made a sweeping gesture with his sword towards the elevator.

“Would you be willing to walk away from Shinra, if we were to do such a thing?”

Zack stiffened slightly at the question. “What?”

“You heard me.” Genesis inclined his head. “Shinra itself holds nothing for me. You and Sephiroth do have my _attention,_ but no more than that. I am intrigued by your proposal, but you will have to do far better than that if you want me to come with you.”

Zack frowned. “Then—”

“You are not the orator you _need_ to be, Zack Fair. I can see that you are getting there, but you do not have the finesse of an actor, nor the words of a poet.” Genesis’ wing flared. “I will not follow Hollander, you can be assured of _that,_ but I will not follow you, either. I can see you do not seek my destruction, Zack Fair, and neither does Sephiroth, but the rest of the world _does._ And if it wants to seek that destruction…then I will insure that I take it with me.”

Genesis hopped back onto the railing and smiled at Zack. It wasn’t a _nice_ smile. “Perhaps I shall see you again, under better circumstances. But, alas, I have no doubt the world will be working against us, if Jenova is the danger you say she is. I would suggest that you do not lose your heart.”

Zack didn’t realize what Genesis was doing until he saw the man tilt backwards. “H-hey! Genesis, don’t—”

Too late. The red First Class had already fallen off the platform and out of sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The more some things change, the more others stay the same.
> 
> I hope you guys like what I did with Cloud here! It annoyed me that he didn't get to talk to Zack as much during the Modeoheim mission, so I crammed in a few more lines.


	19. Project G

When Zack got out of the mako testing site and back into the cold, there was no sign of anyone on the surface. None of the Genesis trooper-copies, or Hollander, Tseng, Cloud, and that other Shinra trooper. Just a lot of footprints leading towards a man-made cave in the side of the mountain.

“Guess that leads to Modeoheim proper.” Zack scratched the back of his head, frowning.

What Genesis had said before he’d dropped to his…probable…death was still unnerving. Zack got the feeling that he wasn’t going to be shaking it out of his head for a _while._ Genesis’ words, _or_ the fact that he’d jumped off the platform and disappeared.

“I _really_ doubt that you’re dead, Genesis,” Zack muttered. “Not with an exit like _that,_ you drama queen.”

Well, at least he knew that if Genesis showed up again, he _probably_ wasn’t going to be working with Hollander. Probably. If he was, he’d punch that man in his smug, overdramatic face before taking his sword to his coat. Genesis deserved _at least_ that.

Zack huffed and moved towards the tunnel, rubbing his bare arms to get some heat back into them. Being out in the cold again wasn’t exactly somewhere he _wanted_ to be, but he had to catch up to the others.

The other side of the tunnel greeted him with more snow and his PHS vibrating in his pocket. Zack snatched it and opened it immediately, only for his shoulders to sag in a huff.

“All right, might as well look to see what Kunsel’s got.” He opened the email and read through it.

_“So now you’re in Modeoheim, eh? I’ll let Sephiroth know in case he asks. I think you’re near Icicle Inn, near the permafrost area….”_

A frown crossed Zack’s face as he got through the email. “…huh. So Modeoheim is less of a town and more of a giant _lab._ Great. No wonder Hollander’s hanging out here.”

He sent a quick email back – _Thanks for telling Sephiroth where I’m at; I’ll fill him in when I get back –_ and pocketed the PHS before starting to move again. He had a Turk and a couple troopers to catch up to.

The “town,” if he could call it that, looked frozen over and deserted, except for the bugs and flightless birds that were wandering around. The buildings were falling apart from years of disuse and being trounced by monsters.

“If Angeal had been _lying,_ I would’ve said that he called me out here as an exterminator so that he could move in!” Zack skewered a bug, then shook it off Hard Edge. “Eugh. I do _not_ want to find out what all these bug guts are gonna do to my sword. Better take care of this quick.” He looked around. “Now, where haven’t I checked…is that a _bath house?_ Looks like it’s seen better days…”

He walked down the slope towards the stone building, built into the side of the mountain. More bugs were running around inside, but it was as cold in _there_ as it was everywhere else.

“Yeesh, couldn’t these guys have left some heat in this place? It’d make my job a whole lot easier.”

He cleared out more bugs as he worked his way around the main area of the bath house, then further back into a second room.

Where a white griffin promptly dropped from out of nowhere with a screech.

“You’re not getting the jump on me!” Zack went in swinging. “Come and get it, bird brain!”

The monster screeched back at him and lunged forward, claws out. Zack met them with his sword and a grin before hitting it in the face with a blizzard of Ice.

The fight didn’t last for too long after that, especially after Zack froze the monster’s wings and kept it from jumping all over the place. The finishing blow was his sword in the monster’s neck.

Zack stepped back as the thing collapsed, then moved in for a closer look at the mosnter’s face. He frowned. “An Angeal monster. Is the real Angeal here, too?”

If he was….

“You’d better be _helping_ us, Angeal, not pitting more monsters against me for no reason.” Zack hefted his sword and started towards a set of broken stairs that led up to another level of the building. “Man, they sure put a lot of work into this place, considering they didn’t get the chance to stay up –“

The sight of a certain blond trooper collapsed on the floor almost made Zack drop his sword.

“Cloud!”

Cloud groaned in response and started to push himself off the ground.

Zack was hovering over the kid in an instant. “Hey, Cloud, talk to me. What happened?”

Cloud pushed himself to his feet, but his stance was unsteady. His uniform was torn in places, suggesting he’d been attacked by something. “We’re—”

Zack saw Cloud’s legs were about to give out, then quickly grabbed an arm and pulled it over his shoulders. “Hey, take it easy. You look like you took a real beating there.”

“I’m _fine,”_ Cloud snapped back. “Just…need to catch my breath.”

“You don’t look like you’re in any shape to back me up.” Zack lowered Cloud so that he could sit on the ground and went digging in his pockets for one of his spare potions. “Here – drink that. It’ll help. Don’t move until your legs are better.”

Cloud stared at the potion in his hands, like he wasn’t entirely sure what to do with it. Zack probably would have just popped the cork and forced it down Cloud’s throat himself had another voice not spoken up.

“Zack…”

Zack’s head shot up and he looked towards a doorway not far from where Cloud had collapsed. “Tseng!” He ran over to where Tseng was lying against the doorframe. “What happened?”

Tseng shook his head. “Down that way…you have to catch Hollander. Angeal…is waiting for you.”

Zack’s blood became as icy cold as Modeoheim’s already chilly atmosphere. _Angeal?_

No, no, he couldn’t afford to lose his composure now. He needed to get out there and figure out what was going on.

Zack nodded to Tseng, then moved past them and deeper into what was starting to look like less and less of a bathhouse and more and more of some kind of abandoned lab. Maybe something that had to do with the mako, before Modeoheim had been abandoned.

Except it wasn’t so abandoned anymore. Dogs with Angeal’s face were stalking the metal walkways, and Zack was going to have to do something about _them_ before he could keep climbing up this decrepit building.

“All right, ya mangy mutts.” Zack pointed Hard Edge at his opponents. “Let’s see how well you can handle me.”

\----

Kunsel didn’t know what drove him to set himself outside of the data room, not really, but it was better than walking in and interrupting whatever Sephiroth was researching. Besides the fact that the door was sealed shut, Sephiroth was looking at the data like he was on a mission in Wutai, cutting through files and Shinra’s history like they were Wutai’s weaker but crafty ninja.

He looked down at his PHS and Zack’s message, frowning. _Why would Zack want Sephiroth to know where he is?_

Kunsel turned the device over in his hand, considering what Zack could have running through his head. He’d heard that Angeal had popped into Lazard’s office, so maybe _that_ had something to do with it, but the details of the mission itself were hush-hush.

Not hush-hush enough that Kunsel wouldn’t hear about it, though. Tseng was sent off on the mission for this one, and it wasn’t like his exit had been _quiet._ Taking a helicopter and a couple troopers wasn’t exactly quiet for a Turk.

In fact, it was very, _very_ loud, if you happened to be the kind of guy with his ear to the ground and his eyes wide open for trouble.

“First Hojo’s up to something, then Zack and Sephiroth do a bunch of missions together, and now a Turk takes off with Zack to do who _knows_ what.” Kunsel frowned under his helmet. “Just what is going on with SOLDIER, if Genesis and Angeal aren’t the ones everyone talks about anymore…?”

The data room’s door slid open so suddenly Kunsel almost jumped. As it was, he had to scramble to stand at attention when Sephiroth stepped out. Not even the bags under his eyes disheveled his appearance any, which was _highly_ unusual for a normal person.

Sephiroth blinked, frowned, then noticed that Kunsel was standing next to the door. “Where is First Class Zack Fair?”

“A mission to Modeoheim, sir,” Kunsel replied. “It was a highly urgent mission, apparently, so they left with him quickly. Angeal left a tip about Hollander and Genesis being out there, sir.”

Sephiroth’s cat eyes became even _more_ predatory, if that was even possible. “Modeoheim?”

“Yes, sir. It used to be a mako testing site, but it was abandoned. If there was anything left behind by the people who worked there, it could no doubt be used as a base for a scientist with less-than-moral decisions.”

Sephiroth inclined his head. “Have you been there?”

“Not personally, but it’s near Icicle Inn. I’ve been _there_ once, so I’m familiar with the climate. Can’t say I’m a fan of it, with how cold it is. I don’t know how Zack will stand it, either, since he’s from Gongaga.”

Sephiroth frowned slightly, then nodded. “What do you know about the SOLDIER project, Kunsel?”

“The SOLDIER project?” Kunsel pulled back a little. “Uh…well, I know that we’re exposed to mako in either infusion tanks or booster shots, depending on what class we’re being upgraded to, and we also have something else added to us to help with the mako absorption and control. Although, I _think_ I came across something that suggested mako infusion could be enough.”

Kunsel’s hand twitched, but he kept himself from scratching the back of his head in thought. His helmet would’ve gotten in the way of that.

Sephiroth frowned, and his gaze moved elsewhere. “Hojo….”

“Hm?” Kunsel almost looked, but then he saw Sephiroth shake his head.

“You haven’t informed others of this information, have you?”

Kunsel shook his head. “No way. Information like _that_ isn’t something you just pass around to SOLDIERs. That would sew some dissent in the ranks, and we’ve already seen what _that_ could cause. No offense meant to your fellow Firsts, sir.”

Sephiroth’s expression shifted. “Hm.” He glanced around, taking note that there wasn’t anyone else nearby. “What is your opinion of Hojo?”

“Sir?”

The look in Sephiroth’s eyes _definitely_ said he wasn’t joking about his question.

“W-well, he’s definitely not someone I want to get the attention of. As much as he is the head of the SOLDIER program and the Science Department, he’s the one part of the equation I would rather do without. If he sees people as nothing more than data points on a graph, then the least Shinra could have done was pick someone with some _empathy_ to balance him out. A little respect, even. That would have gone a long way compared to how Hojo treats us, much less _looks_ at us.”

Kunsel paused while Sephiroth frowned at him. “Although…we can’t really change that, can we. President Shinra _likes_ Hojo. And he’s going to make sure Hojo _stays_ if he’s got anything to say about it. Nothing short of killing Hojo is going to get him out of _that_ position.”

Suddenly he felt like a mouse under a lion’s glare as Sephiroth frowned down at him.

“I assume,” Sephiroth said after a moment, “that you are willing to keep _that_ between us.”

“Y-yes, sir.”

“Good.” Sephiroth motioned for Kunsel to follow him. “I want to discuss a few things with you. You may be capable of offering an outside perspective to a…problem, of mine.”

Kunsel moved to catch up with Sephiroth, wisely keeping his mouth shut on his questions until they reached Sephiroth’s office. And even then, he waited until the door was closed securely before asking, “A problem, sir?”

“Hojo is keeping a great deal of the SOLDIER program under wraps.” Sephiroth dropped into his chair with far less grace than usual. He must have been _very_ tired after spending so long researching. “That is to be expected, as the procedure is meant to be kept secret from those who may seek to use the information for nefarious purposes.” His expression darkened. “However, it does not us any good when it comes to searching for _answers.”_

“This room isn’t bugged, is it?” Kunsel made his way towards the other chair in the room and sat down.

“It should not be.” Sephiroth’s expression darkened further. “And if it is, the Turk on the other end would do well to keep their mouth _shut_ on this matter.”

Woe be to the spy who angered the tiger. “Yeah, that would be…a pretty good idea. What kind of information are you looking for, and why tell _me?”_

“Out of all the members of SOLDIER that there are, you are the most capable with the handling of and seeking of information.” Sephiroth folded his hands on his desk. Better than strangling someone’s neck to get the stress out, Kunsel supposed. “I simply wish to exchange information, in an attempt to understand what Hojo is _doing_ to people like us.”

That made Kunsel stiffen.

“You said that SOLDIERs could potentially be created using mako alone. What makes you think that?”

“Well, sir, there have been some reports of people being exposed to mako and having some levels of increased strength afterwards.” Kunsel paused. “Although, exposure to reach a Third Class’ abilities has to be at a higher concentration, and there’s a higher danger of mako addiction or mako poisoning as a result. Because of the extra substance _we’re_ exposed to, the mako levels are much more tolerable, unless you’re mako sensitive. But there’s a reason people like that aren’t allowed to join SOLDIER.”

Sephiroth nodded. “Do you know what that extra substance _is?”_

“I assume some chemical cocktail that’s meant to alter our DNA, but why Hojo doesn’t adjust the dosage so that mako sensitives can join up too doesn’t make any sense to me. You’d _think_ he’d be interested in experimenting for that kind of thing.”

“Perhaps.” Sephiroth paused. “You are half-right on what exactly it is that Hojo injects new SOLDIERs with.”

Kunsel blinked. “Then…you know?”

“I can only theorize at this point in time. I am going to need more information if I am going to know for certain.” Sephiroth’s gaze focused on Kunsel, and he almost felt like the cat eyes were drilling through his helmet. “I was originally against you searching, in order to avoid gaining Hojo’s attention, but would you be willing to speak with some of Hollander’s former assistants?”

“Hollander’s? Why?”

“I have reason to believe that one of his former projects and SOLDIER are connected. See if you can find anything more on Project G, and work your way forward from there.”

“Project G….” Something about that wanted to ring a few bells at the back of Kunsel’s mind, but he decided to ignore that for now. “Sure. I’ll see what I can find.”

“Be more discreet than the Turks.”

Kunsel chuckled and rose from his chair. “Well, of course, sir. I’ve managed to survive for this long. What kind of a SOLDIER would I be if I couldn’t _keep_ surviving?”

\----

Zack found Angeal at the top of the old bath house, standing alone with his wings exposed. He waited for a moment, half-expecting Hollander to jump out of nowhere, but when he didn’t see him, he stepped into the room.

“It should have been me.” Angeal turned slightly, but didn’t look at Zack. “I should have dealt with Genesis.”

Zack frowned. “Then why did you send me?” There was no way Genesis was dead – not yet, anyway. Angeal could still have that chance if he wanted it.

Angeal turned fully and held his Buster Sword, the bladed end in Zack’s face. “To prepare you for your next fight.”

A feeling of dread settled in Zack’s stomach. “Have you _lost it?_ You’re not anywhere close to the state that Genesis was in! _”_

Angeal swung his sword wide, giving Zack time to jump back.

“Angeal! Stop it!”

“You have a life to return to after your mission here, don’t you?” Angeal replied. “Sephiroth is going to be expecting you to come back into his mental space.”

The dread tripled.

“Angeal….” Zack grabbed Hard Edge off his back. “Don’t do this.”

Angeal swung again, and Zack blocked. He did nothing _but_ block every single one of Angeal’s blows. A part of him felt there was some irony in this – it felt like the time they’d spent training together, but instead of Zack gunning for Angeal’s weak points, it was the other way around. If this had been a regular training day, Zack would have been excited to be able to hold his own against his mentor in a role reversal, but here? With Angeal sprouting wings and Hollander doing who knew _what_ kind of experiments?

It was just a mockery of what they had once been used to.

Angeal caught Zack’s blade and swung it down, leaving the Buster locked against Hard Edge in such a way that removing one blade would mean letting the other cut into flesh.

“Very good, Angeal!”

Zack felt a chill run down his spine when Hollander stepped into the room.

“It’s time to exact vengeance for our family’s suffering!” Hollander continued.

“Family?” Zack looked at Angeal sharply.

“No! My father is dead!” Angeal shot back. He pulled his blade away from Zack, sending him spinning away from his winged mentor. There were still some tricks that Zack could learn, apparently.

Zack held his sword in a ready position, but he didn’t swing it towards Hollander or Angeal just yet. Getting answers while they spat words at each other was better than rushing in and trying to disarm Angeal right now.

“Fine, then do it for your mother,” Hollander shot back.

“My mother’s shame made her take her own life.” Angeal’s voice was extremely bitter, and it made Zack remember what he’d learned in Banora. Before Genesis had first shown off his wing, and Angeal had run off and vanished.

_“My mother did not want to continue to live. And neither can the son.”_

“Shame?” Hollander huffed. “How terribly misguided! She should have been proud! Proud that she was the namesake of our experiment.”

Zack’s grip tightened on Hard Edge. “What?”

Hollander grinned. “Project G was not named such because of Genesis. It was named that because of _Gillian.”_

Angeal grabbed the collar of Hollander’s shirt. “Don’t say her name!”

“I will say her name as much as I like.” Hollander grabbed Angeal’s wrist. “Gillian, the woman implanted with Jenova cells.”

An alarm went off in Zack’s head. _Jenova?!_

“Genesis, who had her genes mapped onto him during the fetal stage.” Hollander inclined his head as Angeal’s grip loosened, and he took the opportunity to step away. “Yes, Genesis was a failure, I’ll admit it. But _you,_ Angeal, were actually carried inside Gillian’s body. You… _you_ are perfection.”

Zack’s head was spinning. If Sephiroth had been here, rather than back at Shinra, he would have pinned Hollander to the wall and _demanded_ answers about Jenova. Zack almost wanted to do that himself, but Angeal pushed Hollander to the ground before he could speak up.

“Zack, I—”

“Whatever he put into your head, I don’t trust it,” Zack cut him off. “Because I’m pretty sure Hojo says the same thing about Sephiroth, and we _really_ don’t trust what’s been coming outta him.”

Angeal blinked, startled. Hollander also looked confused.

“And what does _he_ have to do with _you?”_ Hollander rose to his feet, frowning.

Zack glared at Hollander. “You really think I’m going to tell you? After what you did to Angeal and Genesis? Everything was going _fine_ until you stepped in!”

“He’s had a hand in things from the beginning, Zack,” Angeal said tiredly. “Because of these…these Jenova cells, _my_ cells can absorb genetic traits and pass them to others.”

Zack pulled back. “They can _what?”_

Hollander laughed. “A two-way conduit. Jenova’s power passed on to you completely.”

“I don’t think that’s a good thing!” Zack pointed his sword at Hollander.

“And what do you know of Jenova, boy?”

“I know it’s not an Ancient or whatever you thought it was when you found it,” Zack snapped back. The bite in his voice made Hollander step back in surprise, while Angeal looked at Zack sharply. “It _can’t_ be. What kinda Ancient can be used to – to _copy_ people? Because that’s what you’ve been using Angeal for, isn’t it. To make Genesis copies and Angeal monsters.”

“You are quite quick on your feet,” Hollander muttered. Zack got the feeling it wasn’t meant to be a compliment. He didn’t care enough to try and make it into one. “Boy, you don’t know what it is that you’re up against. I would recommend that you—”

“Hollander.” Angeal frowned at the scientist. “Enough.”

Hollander seemed to get the message, because he did.

Angeal turned his gaze to Zack. “How much do you…know, about what this Jenova is?”

“Not as much as we’d _like.”_ Zack’s eyes narrowed. “Hojo’s keeping a tight lid on the answers. Hollander?”

“Has claimed that Jenova was an Ancient. If you know that she isn’t, then….” Angeal’s expression shifted. “Zack, do you remember what I said? About our enemy being all that creates suffering?”

“I….” Zack remembered that flight to the tower, when Genesis had stormed in. When Angeal had said his mind was in a fog. “Yeah, but _you’re_ not one of them. You’ve _suffered,_ sure, but—”

“But I created my _own_ suffering,” Angeal replied. Something about the sad look on his face made dread coil tightly in Zack’s stomach. “Let me show you.”

“Angeal—”

Zack was cut off as a flurry of monsters broke into the room, screaming.

“Angeal, whatever you’re thinking, please don’t!” Zack looked away from the monsters as Hollander looked around the room, alarm crossing the scientist’s face. “Please! We can figure out a way to work with this without you—”

The monsters rushed past Zack and towards Angeal. The last thing that Zack saw of his mentor before the monsters pulled him under and into something _else_ was the look of sorrow on Angeal’s face.

“Angeal!” Zack screeched. “What happened to _honor?!”_

But there was no answer – not from the dogpile of creatures, and not from the four-legged, winged, centaur-looking monster that resulted.

Zack looked at the upper body, at Angeal, arms crossed over his chest as though in peaceful rest, and shakily held Hard Edge up between himself and the monster Angeal had allowed himself to become.

“Angeal…don’t make me do this.”

The monster only screamed back at him from a large, gaping mouth at Angeal’s waist, and charged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, the more some things change, the more other things stay the same.
> 
> I don't see any way that Zack could have grown without this event. But don't worry; the plot's gonna start to get really turned on its head from the next chapter on. We may still follow the original plot to a point, but that's not going to last too much longer....


	20. Revelations

Sephiroth knew something was wrong the instant Zack came back in range. Not because Zack had been out of range in the first place – Modeoheim was a fair trek out from Midgar, after all – but because of the outpouring of _grief_ that hit him with the force of a tsunami.

If he hadn’t been sitting at his desk, he would have collapsed from the emotional pain. As it was, his eyes were already attempting to unleash a flow of tears that Sephiroth _really_ couldn’t afford at that moment.

Sephiroth closed his eyes tightly and breathed through his nose, attempting to recreate the barrier he needed in order to keep Zack _out._ The pain and unhappiness from Zack was…difficult to work with, however. It kept coming in with whether or not the barrier was present.

_-Zack. Zack! What’s happened?-_

Sephiroth had to wonder if Zack could even hear him over the wailing grief. It made it hard to hear _himself_ think. Was this how strong emotions were in normal people? It made him glad that he didn’t feel things quite so strongly. At least, he didn’t _think_ he felt things quite as strongly.

_-Zack! What happened in Modeoheim?-_

_-Angeal….-_

The way the word felt – grief and anguish wrapped up together with anger and frustration at another man hiding underneath – made Sephiroth almost bristle with alarm.

_-What-- -_

_-Angeal, he….he….-_

Another wave of grief, just as strong as the last. Sephiroth was able to catch a flash of something through it, but it didn’t feel like something he wanted to _ever_ find out.

A flash of white feathers, a body lying collapsed on the ground, skin cracking and turning an off-white color that no human flesh should _ever_ look while alive. Sephiroth’s own skin may have been pale, but he looked _healthy_ compared to this.

Still, it filled Sephiroth with a feeling of dread, as he realized what Zack was showing him.

_-No….-_

Zack’s grief breached the barrier, and he let it.

The act of crying wasn’t one Sephiroth was inexperienced with. He had seen _others_ cry, and he himself had cried in his youth, but those tears had been because of a different kind of pain. He let Zack’s emotional pain sweep away any memories Sephiroth drew up from within himself, merely remembering Angeal and what Zack’s grief could tell him.

_-He wanted to die, Sephiroth. He **wanted** to die! I wanted to bring him back so we could find help, and work through this together, but he – he-- -_

Sephiroth rested his forehead against one hand, doing his best to hide the fact that he was crying from anyone who might walk in on him. Although, the tears were falling at enough of a speed that it was going to be difficult to hide it, even _after_ he managed to bring his emotions back under control.

Zack kept grieving. -I _just…Angeal, why did it have to be **me?-**_

Sephiroth just barely held back the shuddering breath.

_-I just…just….-_

Sephiroth had to wait several minutes before Zack’s waves of grief turned into something less pounding and more simply present, before he could stop his own tears and build up enough walls to keep it out. _-Where are you?-_

_-Wha?-_

_-I assume you are back in Midgar-_

_-O-oh. Yeah. I’m…I’m going down to the slums. There’s…there’s a place I wanna go to, for some reason-_

Sephiroth frowned.

_-I just…I don’t think I’d be able to handle going to Shinra, right now. Not when there’s…there’s reminders of….-_

The grief started to become overwhelming again, but Sephiroth was actually prepared for it, this time. He pushed it back slightly and kept up his walls.

_-I am going to find you-_

_-Sephiroth-- -_

_-Your grief is great, and understandable. It would be…better, if we experienced it together, rather than apart. And I…do not feel inclined towards explaining the reason for my tears in case someone steps into the office-_

_-…oh. Sorry-_

_-You need not apologize. Angeal was a friend for both of us. I would like an explanation of what has happened, however-_

_-U-um…s-sure. Y-yeah, I…I can do that. I’m going to the Sector 5 slums. There’s a church down here that’s pretty quiet. We shouldn’t be bothered-_

_-All right. I shall meet you there-_

Sephiroth pulled away and solidified his barrier as best he could so that he could walk out of his office without tears sneaking into the open. The salt tracks would have been hard to hide if he hadn’t ducked into a bathroom and washed his face at the sink. Thankfully, no one saw him.

Going down into the slums was going to be much harder than hiding his grief at Angeal’s passing, however. He grabbed an unused black, hooded cloak that was in the back of his office and hoped it would keep at least his hair hidden from curious civilians.

Hopefully he would not be stopped by a mob, demanding autographs.

\----

Sephiroth, thankfully, was _not_ stopped by civilians, but avoiding the _Turks_ was another matter. Rude and Reno were stalking the Sector 5 slums like they were more familiar with the streets below the plate than they were with Sector 8 _above_ the plate.

Which was strange. It made Sephiroth step more lightly and more quickly as he moved around construction crews and homes that looked like they had seen better days.

He didn’t ask for directions to the church that Zack had mentioned, and that made it that much easier to hide. Zack’s grieving presence was enough of a natural beacon that he led Sephiroth right to him.

The church’s doors were barely open. There was enough space for Sephiroth to slip inside, but not much more than that. He was tempted to close the door completely behind him, but a soft gasp caught his attention.

Zack was sitting on the wooden floor of the church, but he wasn’t the one who’d gasped. Instead, it was the young girl who was draped over his shoulders from behind, with brown hair tied back in a braid using pink ribbons.

Her green eyes widened as his own met hers, and he frowned when he noticed the shade. The girl’s green eyes were darker than his, but they seemed to have something… _else_ to them. She must carry a strange energy to her.

In hindsight, this explained why the Turks might be in the area. The girl could have been a mark of interest.

Zack shifted, but didn’t look up. “Hey, Sephiroth.”

“I don’t think the Turks are liking you being here.” Sephiroth frowned at Zack.

“It’s fine. Reno saw me and didn’t stop me.”

“Z-zack?” the girl sounded nervous. “U-uh—”

“Aerith, it’s okay.” Zack took one of the girl’s hands reassuringly. “Sephiroth’s just down here ‘cause of me. He’s not gonna step on your flowers or anything.”

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. Flowers? In Midgar?

“It is…not my intention to give you trouble here,” Sephiroth said carefully. Now that he was _that much closer_ to Zack, it was becoming more difficult to keep Zack’s grief out of his mind. And as a result, it was becoming difficult to keep that grief out of his voice. “I simply have concern for….for Zack’s mental state.”

And that was true. Zack’s grief _was_ a cause for concern. If he broke, then his mental state could cause him to disappear in the same way that Angeal and Genesis had.

Aerith’s expression shifted as Zack shuddered under her. “I…see.”

Sephiroth sat on one of the empty pews and looked out over the church. He paused when he saw the flower patch in front of the altar.

Flowers.

In Midgar.

He almost stood up to get a closer look, but then something at the far, far back of his mind shuddered violently with _something_ that wasn’t him and wasn’t Zack.

The shudder passed from him to Zack, making Aerith squeak.

“Zack!” Aerith pulled Zack up from his slumped position to a more upright one. “Are you—”

“I-I’m okay.” Zack shook his head. “What the _hell,_ Sephiroth?” His voice was still cracking from the loss of Angeal, but now confusion had joined in.

“That was not me,” Sephiroth replied. “I am unsure where it came from, but it does not feel like it belongs.”

“Does it?” Aerith frowned. “Normally, things are in your head because they’re supposed to be there.”

“I wouldn’t call us normal,” Zack muttered. He scowled deeply. “Or Angeal. Or _Genesis.”_

Sephiroth blinked. “What do you mean by that?”

“Hollander used J – that _thing_ on _them._ ” Zack glanced at Aerith for a moment before looking at Sephiroth. “I think that’s how they were able to do the stuff they did. That’s what Hollander said, anyway.”

Sephiroth’s eyebrows rose quickly. “Are you sure it is safe to say such things in front of your…friend?” He looked at Aerith, frowning. “A civilian shouldn’t be aware of everything that we have to do as a part of Shinra.” _-Hollander used Jenova cells on Angeal and Genesis?-_

_-Angeal was **born** with ‘em. Said Project G was Project **Gillian.** Angeal’s mom-_

A cold feeling settled in Sephiroth’s heart at this information.

_-They did something to…I dunno, try and mimic it with Genesis? But Angeal didn’t degrade…at least, not until….-_

Sephiroth winced at the vision Zack sent him of the strange monster Angeal forced himself to become, merged with other monsters that carried his face. _-If only we had found answers sooner, then perhaps-- -_

“Hey!”

Sephiroth blinked and noticed that Aerith was standing between himself and Zack, hands on her hips as she frowned at them both.

“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m still here, and I’m not liking being left out of the conversation.” Aerith huffed.

“Uh….” Zack cleared his throat. “Aerith? We’re not… _having_ a conversation.”

“Yes, you are. It’s just that no one else is supposed to be able to hear it. Right?” She looked between them again.

If the power in her eyes wasn’t visible before, it was _certainly_ visible now. Something about the sight of it sent a chill through Sephiroth – for what reason, he wasn’t entirely certain. Clearly, Aerith carried secrets.

“…don’t lose yourself.” Zack looked like he was putting together something himself. “You _knew._ You knew and you told me that. _How?_ Are you some kinda mind reader or something?”

“…Or something.” Aerith clearly didn’t want to give away everything, and that was fine with Sephiroth. “I don’t know everything you’re saying, but whatever it is, it sounds like it’s something bad.”

“That’s one way to put it.” Zack sighed and buried his face in his knees.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Aerith looked between them.

“Help?” Sephiroth frowned. “I doubt that you would be capable of assisting us with troubles of this sort.”

“Looks can be deceiving. After all, the Turks don’t know you’re here.”

 _That_ got Sephiroth to straighten while Zack stared in alarm.

“You – you _know_ about them?” Zack choked out.

“I was correct in my assumption that they were watching you.” Sephiroth frowned. “What reason would they have for approaching you?”

“Mm, I ‘m not gonna give that away just yet.” Aerith shook her head. “You guys aren’t…gonna do anything to me, are you?”

“What?! Why would you think that?!” Zack’s eyes were wide with alarm. Sephiroth couldn’t help but notice that his shock was starting to push the grief to the back of Zack’s mind. So long as he had something else to focus on, that would be a background noise, then. Likely for the better, considering their current circumstances.

“You haven’t purposefully acted to endanger those around you, Midgar as a whole, or Shinra specifically,” Sephiroth said evenly. “What reason would you have to believe we would harm you?”

“Y-yeah, exactly!” Zack motioned to Sephiroth. “Aerith, what’s gotten into you? Why would the Turks want you of all people?”

Aerith shook her head. “That’s…not important. Not right now.”

“Isn’t it, though?” Zack made a worried noise. “If Hojo’s got anything to do with this, I swear, I’m taking Kunsel and Sephiroth and _leaving.”_

Sephiroth frowned while Aerith stiffened. “I doubt that Hojo would allow for anyone to wander the lower part of the city freely, Zack. Your friend likely isn’t involved in anything of his.”

“But – but she can hear us like I can hear you! But you’re in my head and she isn’t, so it makes sense to me that Hojo would set up _something_ that could join up later. We talked about the chances of that happening _months_ ago, remember?”

“Choosing someone from _inside_ the company is more likely than someone from the outside,” Sephiroth replied evenly. “I doubt that a girl who spends time in a church with flowers would catch his….”

His gaze moved back to Aerith. Her fists were clenched tightly at her sides, but she stood her ground.

Considering he was sizing her up, that spoke a great deal for either her bravery, or her foolishness.

 _-Hey!-_ Zack objected to that train of thought. _-Aerith isn’t foolish!-_

_-But she is young, and ignorant of the world-_

“Could you _please_ stop doing that?” Aerith asked. “It feels _wrong.”_

Zack ducked his head. “I…yeah, it kinda does. I mean, we weren’t supposed to be _able_ to do this, but…we kinda can now. Have been for a while, actually.”

“You’re gonna lose yourself to it, if you’re not careful,” Aerith said.

“We are already capable of blocking ourselves from each other,” Sephiroth said evenly. “And we have been since before Zack met you. Do not presume that we are not unaware of the dangers.”

“But if you don’t protect against—”

Aerith cut herself off, but Sephiroth could see she knew it was too late.

“…Aerith?” Zack looked up at her cautiously. “What is it you’re not telling us?”

Aerith looked between them with an increasingly concerned expression. Sephiroth saw the slight panic in her eyes and frowned.

“Aerith, if you—”

“No, no, it’s…” Aerith breathed in and forced her shoulders to drop. “You.” She looked to Sephiroth. “There’s something…dangerous, about you.”

“About him? And not me?” Zack frowned. “We’re both SOLDIERs.”

Aerith shook her head. “It’s not… _as_ there? I think?”

“But, then –”

Sephiroth took a leap of faith. “What do you know of Jenova?”

“Sephiroth!” Zack yelped. “Why’re you – Aerith? Are you okay?”

Aerith stumbled back into a pew across from Sephiroth, shaking and wide-eyed. “S-so…you _do_ know.”

“Know _what?”_ Zack looked between them. Sephiroth could feel his concern and annoyance rippling off him.

“Hollander falsely believed she was an Ancient when they discovered her, and Hojo – as _you_ recalled, Zack – called her _the Calamity from the skies._ According to what histories we have, the Ancients were destroyed by a meteor.” Sephiroth paused and waited while Zack’s gears turned in his head.

Zack sucked in a breath sharply. _-You mean-_ \- -

“The creature that Hollander took genetic data from for Genesis and Angeal, and the being that Hojo called my _mother,_ are likely the same monster as what destroyed the peoples of the ancient past.”

The wood of the pew in front of Sephiroth groaned under his hands. He hadn’t even realized that he had grabbed it, much less gripped it to the point of _breaking_ it.

Zack looked _horrified_ at the implications. “You – you mean – Hojo _made_ you using that thing?! What in – nononononono, that _can’t_ be right. Couldn’t your mom just have…I dunno, had the same name? Coincidentally?”

“It would be one _hell_ of a coincidence, Zack Fair,” Sephiroth snapped back. He was getting worked up by this, especially if he was swearing. Swearing was for when your emotions got the better of you, and they were _never_ supposed to get the better of him. Wild emotions made you reckless on the battlefield, and recklessness had a higher chance of getting you _killed_ than getting you out alive.

“Well, I’d rather think it was than think about you being destined to destroy the world or something,” Zack snapped back. “We lost Angeal because of that monster; I don’t _want_ to lose anyone _else_ because of some dead witch named Jenova.”

“Or Genesis.”

Zack shook his head. “I never saw Genesis’ body. He’s got her in him, too, but the only person I saw die in Modeoheim was Angeal. Hollander almost used our fight to get away, but Tseng and Cloud caught him before he could get too far.”

Sephiroth frowned. “It’s because of Genesis – no, _Hollander_ – that we have this problem in the first place.” His eyes narrowed. “And _Hojo.”_

Aerith made a worried noise, and Sephiroth realized with a jolt they were still talking in front of the civilian girl who had Turks watching her for…some reason. He would have to research into that later.

“I…can’t say I’m not _worried_ about what you’re talking about,” Aerith said slowly. “But…you didn’t know about this? You didn’t…hear her?”

“Hear her?” Sephiroth repeated. “No. The only voice that has been in my head has been his.” He motioned to Zack. “And _that_ was only because of Hojo. I haven’t noticed any other voices.”

Aerith blinked, looked like she was about to say something, then stopped. She frowned, then looked towards the patch of flowers with an odd expression.

Aerith sighed loudly and looked at Sephiroth. “If you ever hear a voice that doesn’t feel like a person, shut it out. It…it’s probably her.”

Sephiroth blinked.

Aerith fidgeted. “You… _can_ do that, right?”

“H-hey, that’s like, basic Mental Private Space 101.” Zack grinned, but his expression was shaky. “We got this, Aerith. Promise. You don’t need to look so worried, I swear. We even practiced breaking down each other’s walls and I couldn’t put so much as a chip in Sephiroth’s after the first couple tries.”

Aerith blinked, looking between them with a somewhat surprised expression.

“But…how do _you_ know about Jenova?” Zack frowned. “That’s top secret, horror-science-stuff. You’ve got no reason to know about it.”

Aerith was about to respond when the church doors opened abruptly, and Reno stepped inside, tapping his baton on one shoulder.

“Yo! You two are wanted back at base,” Reno said cheerily. “I thought I’d only find the rookie First down here; guess it’s just luck I found the Silver General too!” The grin on his face turned sharp. “If you two’re plannin’ on talkin’ ta anyone about that girl, yer gonna—”

“That was not our intention, Reno,” Sephiroth replied evenly. “I was merely…ensuring that our missing First did not do anything drastic after his return from Modeoheim. I have come to understand it was a rough journey for him.”

Reno tilted his head and looked at Sephiroth for a long moment. “…yeah. Guess you SOLDIER types never do well with missions like that.”

Zack jolted as alarm drifted across their connection, but Sephiroth gave him nothing back.

“Well, if that’s all, you two should come back up. Come on, leave the girl alone, don’t give her any trouble.”

“They weren’t giving me any, Reno,” Aerith replied. “They just…we were just talking, that’s all.”

“Uh-huh. Sure, princess. Come on, SOLDIERs, off with you.”

“We’re going, we’re going.” Zack grumbled a number of things under his breath as he rose to his feet. Aerith shifted next to him. “Thanks, Aerith.”

Aerith blinked, then nodded. “Come back soon, okay?”

“I’ll try.” Zack gave her a shaky smile, then nodded to Sephiroth before walking out of the church.

Sephiroth moved to follow after him, but paused next to Reno.

“I should hope you are making sure that Hojo _never_ hears of her,” Sephiroth said quietly.

Reno blinked sharply. “What the hell do you think we’re doin’?”

“Keeping an eye on a person of interest.” Sephiroth’s eyes narrowed. “I hope for _your_ sake that it is not Hojo’s interest.”

Reno eyed Sephiroth for a long moment, then nodded. “Uh…yeah.”

Sephiroth held Reno’s gaze for a long moment, then nodded and stepped out of the church. He knew that Reno and Aerith were both staring at him as he left, burning holes into his back.

He hoped the decision he had made concerning Aerith was the right one.

\----

To say that Cloud was nervous was an understatement. Or maybe he was excited?

It was hard to tell when you were being led into the science department by both the creator of the SOLDIER program…and someone everyone and their mothers told you to run from like your life depended on it.

“So, you told me you wanted to get into SOLDIER because you want to be like Sephiroth, is that right?”

“Y-yes, sir.” Cloud nodded as Hojo looked back at him with a strange gleam in his eye. “But…I haven’t taken any of the tests yet. I signed up for one that’s supposed to—”

“Don’t worry about that. It’s all taken care of.”

Cloud would have perked off if some alarm hadn’t been going off in his head. “What do you mean?”

“I _mean,_ boy, that you are going to be testing out a new…version, of SOLDIER.” Hojo smiled, and it was not a _nice_ smile. It made Cloud think of the bullies back home, the ones that liked to push him around and tease him and keep him away from Tifa. “We will have to run a physical, of course, but I should think that you are more than prepared for what I have in mind to make you _better_ than what we already have.”

Cloud decided to cling to that more than any of the alarm bells that Hojo was making go off in his head. “Will it make me as strong as Sephiroth?”

“But of course.”

Cloud nodded. Well, at least there was that.

Hojo led him deeper into the research facility. “We’ll start with a few things here, but we’ll have to move to a facility that I have elsewhere to continue the treatments. I will make sure that the appropriate people know, of course, so don’t worry about any friends of yours.”

“I don’t…really have any.”

A part of Cloud argued for Zack, the friendly First who he’d helped in Modeoheim, but they’d only met the once. Cloud wasn’t sure if he could count him as a friend or not.

“Ah. All the better, then.”

Hojo moved past three glass containers full of mako and something _else_ that almost made Cloud stumble to a halt.

He stared at what was floating inside and almost started to move back towards the entrance.

“Well?” Hojo had stopped a short distance away, sounding impatient. “Come along. You would think for a member of the infantry, you would be much more _capable_ of following orders.”

“S-sorry.” Cloud moved away from the mako tanks.

Hojo followed his gaze and smiled his not-nice-at-all smile again. “Like them? They’re a new project of mine. After all, having _one_ Silver General is never quite enough for some people, now is it?”

“Uh….”

“You wouldn’t be able to comprehend my reason why for such things. Come along, boy. Let me make you into a _proper_ SOLDIER.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> >:3
> 
> Aaaaand the original plot is officially off the rails!
> 
> There are still some things that are going to happen that follow the original plot, but Jenova is now much more of a known evil entity than she was in the other game. Which is great for Zack and Sephiroth, because now they can prep for a potential encounter!


	21. No Rest for the Weary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We had a somewhat quiet chapter this time. Felt it appropriate, after the rather huge conversation Zack and Sephiroth had with Aerith last Friday.
> 
> Of course, something's going to cut that quietness short...

Despite the sun, sand, and sea, Zack was _not_ enjoying his vacation at Costa Del Sol.

Mostly because Sephiroth had shut himself off – physically _and_ mentally – as soon as they’d arrived, citing a need to “think things over” and asking not to be disturbed.

Zack would have done the same thing, had the _Turks_ not come along on _their_ vacation too. They’d dragged him out to the beach and not left him alone since. For _days._

“Can’t you guys take a hint and leave a guy alone every once in a while?” Zack huffed at Cissnei, who was wearing a rather revealing bikini. “Not that I don’t mind having a girl’s attention, but sometimes a guy needs to be left alone with his thoughts, ya know?”

Cissnei giggled. “I would have thought that someone like you would like being surrounded by pretty women all the time. Unless you swing another way?”

“Nah, I’m solely a ladies’ man.”

“And Sephiroth?”

Zack frowned. “What makes you think I know _anything_ like that about Sephiroth?”

“Oh, I dunno. The two of you seem quite close.”

Zack gave Cissnei a sour look. Thankfully, she got the message and wandered away to give him a little space. She didn’t move out of hearing range, but Zack didn’t feel like she was staring over his shoulder anymore.

Zack huffed and looked over the beach, frowning. He gave Sephiroth a mental poke, but only found his thick walls again. He sighed and shook his head. “It’s been almost a _week._ Just what is going on anymore?”

His PHS went off in a pocket of his swim trunks. “Huh? Who could…”

The email ID said it was Kunsel, which got Zack frowning. “Kuns? What’d you find this time….”

The email didn’t say much – something about still looking into what Sephiroth had asked him to, watching their backs in case someone got any ideas while they were on vacation, and watching for the mountain boy that Zack had spent time with in Modeoheim.

Zack almost grinned at the reminder of Cloud. The kid had spunk, and definitely would be going far if Zack had anything to say about it. Anyone who could talk about dragons the way Cloud did would _definitely_ do well as a SOLDIER.

Except…

Zack’s grin faded as he thought about Angeal and Genesis. How they’d been SOLDIERs, and how they’d turned into monsters because of the same thing that Sephiroth had apparently been told was his _mother._

The thought still sent a chill down Zack’s spine. Sephiroth hadn’t talked about it to anybody since they’d arrived, but he could guess that it was on _his_ mind, too.

Especially since Angeal and Genesis….

“Hey, Cissnei.” Zack looked over at the Turk, who acted like she hadn’t heard him. “Are they putting us out to pasture or something? Because of Angeal?”

“What makes you say that?” Cissnei looked back. “You two just looked like you needed some R&R, that’s all.”

“But for a whole week? Something’s fishy, and it isn’t the local sushi.” Zack turned the PHS over in his hand. “I’m thinking about calling Lazard. He’ll be able to tell me when this paid leave is supposed to be up.”

“You’re not going to be able to reach him.”

Zack paused, then frowned. “What do you mean? Is he on leave too?”

Cissnei shook her head. “He’s been missing for some time now. Apparently, he had a hand in funding Hollander’s research, by using company money. He’s likely disappeared in order to avoid being arrested.”

Zack almost crushed his PHS. “He _what?_ Are you serious?”

Cissnei nodded. “We’re interrogating Hollander, so we should know more soon. I’m only telling you this because of how close you are to the case. You deserve to know some of the things that are going on.”

“But not everything.”

“Even if you are a First, you don’t have security clearance for everything.” Cissnei’s mouth quirked in a smirk.

Zack put his PHS back in his pocket before he could accidentally crush it, considering all these bombs Cissnei was dropping. “What was he _thinking,_ doing something like that? What does _anyone_ think when they pull bullshit like that? It doesn’t…there’s no honor in going behind everyone’s backs to let someone like Hollander do whatever he wants.”

_Or Hojo, for that matter._

“An answer like that…it’s going to be different for every person, I think.” Cissnei’g gaze moved to the sea. “But even that truth becomes suspect once it leaves someone’s mouth.”

_Guess Sephiroth and I have it different, since we can get such a good read on each other when we’re open about it._

Zack’s thoughts moved from Sephiroth to Aerith’s concerned face, remembering how she had stared at the two of them. “Hey, Cissnei, could you go do something somewhere else for a bit?”

“Calling Aerith?”

Zack stiffened. “You – how do you know that? Am I being watched?”

“Aerith is the one who’s being watched.”

Zack frowned. Her? And not them? But he and Sephiroth had been talking _right in front of her_ about what was probably the most top-secret secret of the Science Department.

“Aerith is an Ancient,” Cissnei explained. “The only one left in the world.”

Zack’s eyes widened. “She’s – _what?”_

No wonder she’d reacted like that when Sephiroth had mentioned Jenova. They’d been talking about the same monster that had _wiped out her people._ Shiva, Sephiroth had been told that monster was his _mother._

Cissnei tilted her head. “You didn’t know?”

“She never said anything.” Zack shook his head. “I guess…she figured it wasn’t important for me to know.”

Or maybe telling Sephiroth outright would have made the Jenova part of him freak out? Since Jenova had destroyed the Ancients before?

Zack decided he _really_ didn’t want to think about that. Sephiroth going off the deep end because of a monster he’d been told was his _mother_ was not something that he wanted to consider. Not after what had happened to Angeal and Genesis.

 _Especially_ after what happened to Angeal and Genesis.

“I’m guessing you guys are listening in on our conversations, too.” Zack pulled his PHS out and checked his messages. Aerith’s last one had been sent yesterday, and it was – mostly – some assurance that so long as they kept their heads and kept out anything that didn’t feel human, they would be fine. She’d sent it in response to Zack’s own message, worrying about what-ifs, but Aerith seemed to calm to him when talking about this.

“Sometimes. When we learned it was you, we spent more time watching her talk than listening to both sides, but we have the data for all the calls you make.” Cissnei shrugged, looking briefly apologetic. “A part of the job, I’m afraid. If you didn’t want your conversations known about, then you should work harder at keeping your secrets private.”

Zack frowned. “With Turks around, some things are never private.”

“Mm.” Cissnei smiled. “Perhaps. It’s not like we make it easy.”

Zack considered reaching for one of the giant umbrellas sitting nearby. It wasn’t Hard Edge or the Buster sword, which Angeal had left to him after their fight, but it looked to be about the same size and that was what counted at the moment.

He tried not to think about the fact that Angeal had _given_ his sword to Zack before he’d passed after their fight in Modeoheim. Or that it was currently in his hotel room.

“Does that mean…?”

Someone in a black Turk suit burst onto the scene before Cissnei could answer. Tseng pointed towards the beach as figures exploded out of the water. “Zack! Genesis copies!”

“What?!” Zack turned away from Cissnei and stared in shock at the three figures in wet suits that were walking out of the sea. “What the hell – where did _these_ guys come from?!”

He grabbed the beach umbrella he’d been thinking about using on Cissnei, depending on the answer he might have gotten out of her. It had the right amount of heft to use for the moment, but it was definitely lighter than the Buster sword. Like he was going to be able to get the chance to run back to his hotel to get his inherited weapon at this point.

The Genesis copies didn’t know what hit them, mostly because one got whacked in the face by the umbrella before he could fire. Zack had to move around the shots coming from the other two as he proceeded to beat the first into a bloody pulp on the sand.

A flash of silver caught the corner of his eye, and another copy fell to a thin sword that was ridiculously long.

_-It seems I cannot leave you alone and expect you to not attract trouble-_

_-Sephiroth!-_

The last copy standing didn’t have a chance to know what hit him. A sword in the chest and a few quick umbrella whacks to the head, and he was down.

Zack dropped the battered umbrella with a huff. It was almost bent in half at the middle, and definitely wasn’t going to be opening anytime soon. “I could’ve finished them off before you’d gotten here if I’d had my sword.”

“But you didn’t.” Sephiroth sheathed Masamune and frowned at the two Turks. “I find it curious that there are still copies present, despite Hollander’s arrest.”

“Think Genesis is up to something?” Zack picked up on the trickle of thought that was coming from Sephiroth.

“It is likely.” Tseng frowned. “His body was never recovered in Modeoheim.” He watched the Genesis copies as their bodies faded away in green flecks. “The only other option is that Genesis’ soul _is_ in the lifestream, and he is still affecting the land of the living somehow.”

Zack frowned. _-I don’t like the sound of that-_

Sephiroth shifted his stance slightly. _-I wonder….-_

“You are suggesting he is capable of manipulating his copies from beyond death,” Sephiroth guessed.

“Merely a supposition,” Tseng replied. “In any case, your vacation is over. Pack what you brought with you and meet me at the docks.”

“I assume an emergency is bringing us back?” Sephiroth asked.

“A mission’s come up, yes, and you two have been specifically requested for it.” Tseng frowned at Sephiroth. “I’ll give you the details when you’re ready to leave.”

Sephiroth nodded, then motioned for Zack to follow after him as he quickly strode off the beach. Zack followed, but he frowned when he saw what looked like a group of beachgoers gathering on the horizon.

_-Uh….-_

_-My fans-_ Sephiroth’s tone was blunt. _-We will be taking the backstreets to avoid them-_

 _-We?-_ Zack knew the main streets would get him back to their hotel faster, crowds of fans or no. Sephiroth could hide away and Zack could get a good sprint in.

_-They know you are with me now. They will bombard you with ridiculously personal questions and demand to know if you are my lover. They used to hound Genesis and Angeal a great deal with such questions when we were found together-_

Zack winced at the picture that painted as the ducked behind one of the nearby buildings. _-…Oh. Gotcha-_

_-I simply felt I should warn you. You can try, if you like-_

_-Nah, nah…as much as I love attention and talking to people, there comes a point where personal questions just get waaaaay too personal, and things get uncomfortable fast-_

_-Hm. Glad to know your sense of perseverance is working-_

Zack snorted. He could feel Sephiroth was at least somewhat amused by his own statement as well, which was a good sign. It meant he wasn’t brooding, like he probably was when they got here.

Sephiroth didn’t need to look back to let Zack know he was raising an eyebrow. _-Brooding?-_

 _-W-well, ya kinda…I mean, you locked me off from you for a good while there…-_ Zack frowned. He thought he heard someone squealing something on one of the main roads, but decided not to think about it. Sephiroth’s shoulders were stiffening up at _Zack’s_ thought on it. _-You are doing okay, right? I mean – you’re not gonna do anything weird-_

Word choice did nothing to hide Zack’s concern from Sephiroth. _-I am not intent on following in the footsteps of those who think they know better than me in terms of my destiny, no-_

_-So, no destroying the world like Aerith’s worried about-_

_-No-_

Zack nodded in satisfaction. _-Good-_

Another eyebrow quirk from Sephiroth. They were coming up on the back of the hotel, which meant using their hotel-given keys to get in using one of the side entrances.

_-How, may I ask, is it ‘good?’-_

_-You can feel what I’m thinking, so- -_

_-I would still appreciate some elaboration, Zack-_

Zack slipped a hand into his pocket and pulled out his hotel key card. He flipped the piece of flimsy plastic over between his fingers as he walked up to the door. Yup, there were definitely squeals on the road now. Sounds like the fans had found out which hotel they were in.

_-They knew where we were as soon as we landed. They are simply hoping to catch a glimpse of me, and didn’t see you as a point of interest until I arrived on the beach-_

Zack winced, and he quickly got the door open. Sephiroth ducked inside before someone on the street could so much as scream at catching sight of them, and Zack almost slammed the door behind them before making a beeline for the elevator, Sephiroth already ducking into one.

- _Never thought fans could be **this** rabid-_

_-Pray you do not see more. Now, your elaboration on your comment for my decision?-_

Zack blinked as the elevator doors closed and they started going up to their room – one of those all-expense-paid fancy suites usually reserved for executives. _-Oh, that? It’s just – Well, I dunno. I don’t like the idea of you going off the deep end, too. We’ve already lost enough people. I don’t wanna get…I dunno, lose you too? Get dragged along with you because of this?-_

The elevator came to a stop and let them out into a thankfully empty hallway.

 _-I understand your concern-_ Sephiroth conveyed as he stepped into the hall. _-My intent is to keep a level head, Zack, whether or not the world wants something else of me-_

They walked to the end of the hallway and split, going to two separate rooms across the hall from each other.

Zack snorted as he got his door open. _-Yeah, Hojo can suck it if he wants you to do what Jenova wants. He can suck it if he doesn’t, too-_

“Hm.” Sephiroth stepped into his suite with a slight smirk on his face. Zack’s expression was more of a sour grin than anything friendly.

 _-Why were you brooding for the whole week, though?-_ Zack added as the door closed behind him. Just because they weren’t in the same room didn’t mean the conversation came to a halt.

_-I…needed to come to terms with a few matters-_

Sephiroth didn’t need to specify, and Zack didn’t think he needed to, either. Enough was passed along with those few words that he hadn’t needed any specifics other than “Angeal” and “Aerith” and “Jenova.”

 _-I gotcha-_ Zack started grabbing loose clothes and other things that were scattered around the suite. _-So?-_

_-So, what?-_

_-What are we gonna do? At this point, Shinra’s stabbed us far too many times in the back to make me feel **that** good about sticking around-_ Zack made a face as he finished grabbing the loose vacation clothes and located his SOLDIER uniform. It was clean, and a bit rumpled, but at least Tseng wouldn’t look disapproving if he showed up to the ferry in it. _-First Angeal and Genesis, now this whole Jenova thing…I dunno about you, but I don’t wanna stick around to see what kind of messed-up thing they do next. I joined them to become a hero, not some…some messed-up science experiment-_

_-They have information that we are likely going to need in order to get more answers, Zack-_

_-We have Kunsel for that-_

_-Do we? He is a SOLDIER, not our personal Turk. He has missions of his own to undertake-_

Zack frowned, in the middle of pulling on his uniform. _-He can do it on the sly. He’s done that before-_ He pulled his pants up all the way and tightened his suspenders. He gave them a tug and grinned at the smack of sound they made against his sleeveless turtleneck. _-Why do you think he was able to get away with as much as he did?-_

_-He will not be able to do that forever, Zack-_

_-So, we get him out before anything bad happens to him-_

_-We will not be able to predict that if we are outside the company-_

Zack frowned as he stepped into the bathroom and started gathering together his toiletries. On a whim, he grabbed the free hotel stuff too and threw it all into his suitcase. _-You don’t think we should leave Shinra-_

_-Not **yet,** no. We have more pieces, but nothing of what Hojo has to say for himself-_

- _Are you **seriously** going to give him a chance to explain himself? After **everything** he’s done?-_ Zack slammed his suitcase closed with enough force that something almost exploded out. He caught the swim trunks in time and threw them back in before zipping it up. He almost tore the zipper off the suitcase in the process. _-He’s probably gonna only tell you what he wants to tell you, not what **we** want him to tell us. It’d be better if we left-_

_-And have Shinra send SOLDIERs after us in order to end us?-_

Zack paused. Oh, he hadn’t thought of that.

Sephiroth felt like he’d predicted that. _-As I assumed-_

_-But we can’t stay with Hojo- -_

_-I am aware, Zack….We can take care of this mission, but we do not…have to **return** from this mission-_

Zack’s eyes widened slightly. _-Really? We’re doing it?-_

_-Only if you can think of a way to ensure that Aerith is not left alone as someone for Shinra to take advantage of-_

Zack’s hopeful rise was dropped abruptly when Sephiroth pointed that out. He grabbed Angeal’s – his – Buster sword from where it was leaning against the wall and rested it against his back. _-Oh, yeah…wouldn’t be a good idea to leave her alone like that…-_

_-No, it would not-_

Zack opened the door to his suite and blinked when he saw Sephiroth already standing there, waiting patiently.

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at him. “You certainly took your time.” _-So, we are in agreement?-_

“I don’t exactly go everywhere with nothing _but_ the clothes on my back,” Zack muttered in reply. _-Yeah, guess so. Soon as we get back I’m gonna flag down Aerith and tell her to get out if she can. Find some way around the Turks or something, but I dunno how well that’ll work. She’s pretty important, apparently-_

 _-Oh?-_ Sephiroth started towards the elevator.

 _-Yeah-_ Zack considered not telling Sephiroth what Cissnei had told him.

_-You know I’m going to find out eventually-_

_-…Aerith’s an Ancient-_

Sephiroth almost _stumbled_ as they came to a stop at the elevator. The wide-eyed look Zack got almost made him swallow nervously. Those cat-eyes were starting to look more predatory than Zack liked.

Sephiroth blinked sharply, then shook his head and breathed deeply to recover himself. _-I…I see. I had my suspicions, but…-_ His expression hardened. _-Hojo **cannot** be allowed to get his hands on her. If the Turks are aware of who she is, then it is likely he knows, as well. We cannot allow them to take her into their labs-_

 _-No shit-_ Zack hit the button to summon the elevator, since Sephiroth clearly wasn’t going to. _-I like Aerith. If anything happened to her, I dunno **what** I’d do-_

 _-…yes, it is…quite obvious that you care for her a great deal, Zack. If you intend to have relations with her, I should warn you that the changes to SOLDIERs would not make having children…ideal. **Especially**_ _if it’s with- -_

_-Okay, okay! Geez, you don’t need to get into the details!-_

Sephiroth almost laughed at the aghast expression on Zack’s face, but the mental touch of amusement was enough to get a scowl from Zack as the elevator arrived.

“I _really_ hope we aren’t going to end up getting stuck there,” Zack said. “I know Angeal always talked about there being honor in SOLDIERs, but when there isn’t any honor left in _everybody else,_ it gets a little hard to keep that going.”

Sephiroth inclined his head slightly. “I have to wonder if he would agree with you, if he were still with us.”

They stepped into the elevator, and Sephiroth let Zack handle hitting the button for the ground floor.

“I…yeah. I get what he was talking about, since he set such a good example for everyone else to follow, but when the only good examples are the people in SOLDIER who left because of what the Science Department pulled….” Zack ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Lazard’s emails always talked about distortions in Shinra. Something like that. I think Hojo and whatever he’s pulled is the biggest one yet.”

“I would not be surprised if he agreed with you.”

\----

Tseng was waiting for them at the ferry, which was expected of the Turk. If he was impatient, he didn’t show it.

“Cissnei is keeping the fan clubs busy,” Tseng said evenly. “I should hope you didn’t have any trouble getting here.”

“I’m grateful she is willing to deal with them,” Sephiroth replied. “They would have slowed our arrival here by that much more.”

Tseng nodded curtly.

“So, what’s the mission?” Zack shifted from one foot to the other, frowning.

“There’s an attack on Junon that we need the two of you to help resolve,” Tseng replied. “It’s likely to be more Genesis copies, or an ecoterrorist group that’s been on the rise in your absence.”

“Terrorists?” Zack groaned. “If it’s not one thing, it’s another.”

“Or in this case, both.” Sephiroth frowned. “What does this group all themselves, Tseng?”

Tseng inclined his head to Sephiroth. “They call themselves AVALANCE.”


	22. Checking In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congrats, you guys are halfway through reading my madness!
> 
> We're not getting to Junon this week, though -- instead, we're getting a peek at what everyone else is up to before we arrive there. There are some things that happen behind the scenes, after all!
> 
> Also, just a heads up -- as at least one of you noted last week, events jumped forward rather sharply between Modeoheim and Costa Del Sol. We're going to start seeing me trying to pick up the pace of the story...because at this point I was getting into July and I was absolutely determined last month to see this story Finished. So it may not look as good as it could, just a heads-up.

The voices of the Planet told Aerith she _should_ be worried about Sephiroth and his influence on Zack. He was the son of Calamity, made to destroy the last remaining Cetra and potentially the rest of the world as well. It made sense that she would be absolutely terrified of him.

But, at the same time, there was Zack. Zack was _not_ Calamity’s son, as affected as he was by her presence through Sephiroth, and his presence seemed to be having as much of an effect on Sephiroth as Sephiroth was having on him. Where Sephiroth was quiet, Zack was _loud,_ and he filled the space that much more easily than anything dark that might be lurking below the surface.

Aerith pulled weeds from her flower bed and contemplated the two of them. They didn’t want to be Calamity’s messengers, that much was certain. They’d already lost people because of the Calamity, and they were angry _at_ the people who had used her in connection with them.

“I can see why you are so concerned, but I don’t think that you should be so panicked about what they could be doing,” Aerith remarked. She soothed one of her lily’s petals and went back to weeding. “I like that you watch them for me. Zack is sad, and he needs more people he can rely on. Give him more people like that, and I think we will be able to make sure that Sephiroth won’t fall under Calamity’s sway.”

The voices of the Planet did not seem… _completely_ soothed by this, but the voices did pull back a little. A couple sounded contemplative, but Aerith couldn’t quite make out what it was they were saying. Midgar didn’t make it easy to listen to the Planet, with the living voices talking on their own and the mako reactors screaming night and day with the voices of millions of pained souls who were not knowing peace in the afterlife.

Aerith frowned and quietly pushed that thought away. She wasn’t strong enough to ease the pain of those in the Lifestream here. She probably was never _going_ to be, being only half-Cetra.

Half of an Ancient, and yet Shinra still hunted after her like she was the whole prize….

Aerith didn’t need to look over her shoulder to know that there was a Turk behind her. She could hear their quiet, knowing song well enough in the church. Being close to the Planet here had _some_ perks – at least she could never be snuck up on.

“Balto, right?” Aerith tilted her head at the young man as he came to a stop behind her. “I didn’t think that I’d be seeing you again.”

The katana-wielding Turk huffed. “You’re really creepy when you do that, you know.”

Aerith giggled. “No more creepy than you are, you mean? You can sneak up on anyone in Midgar and they wouldn’t know. I’m just evening things out a little.” She pulled up a clump of weeds and set it aside. “You normally don’t set foot in the church, though…is something happening?”

“No more than the usual.” Balto shrugged. “Don’t mind me, okay? Just pretend I’m someone who came into the church to get out of the rain.”

“A little hard to do that, when there’s such a big hole in the roof.” Aerith pointed up with a giggle.

“A big…? Damn. Where did _that_ come from? Sector 5 is still building down here, what with the plate being in the middle of construction…you didn’t get hurt, did you?”

“No, I’m fine. I just had a nice surprise that day, is all.”

Some of the Turks seemed to know about Zack. Leaving it at that was probably enough for this one.

“Some surprise, if it came crashing through and left you exposed to the elements. Someone should get that hole fixed.”

“Oh, leave it. The flowers like the sunlight, and we all know they needed a little more of it.” Besides, Aerith liked the reminder the gap in the roof gave her. Zack was nice, and she liked getting to know him when he woke up. And after that, too, even if his missions had kept him more away than he liked.

“…If you say so.” Balto was probably already thinking of how to sneak repairing the church past her.

Aerith clicked her tongue and removed another stubborn patch of weeds. “I do say so. I’m the gardener here, after all. Plants like sunlight, and they don’t get enough of it down here when there isn’t a hole in the roof. If I want to make Midgar full of flowers, I’m going to need all of the help I can get.”

She tilted her head as a thought occurred to her, and she looked back at the Turk. With his dark, spiky hair, he almost looked like… “You could help too, you know. I have another friend who’s promised to help me.”

“Maybe when I get a day off,” Balto replied. “But I have plans of my own too, Miss Gainsborough. I wouldn’t want to promise anything and have to cancel at the last minute.”

“That’s fair.” _He probably has a sweetheart, too._

The plants hummed under her fingers in agreement. They thought he was okay enough, but Zack was liked far better. Especially since he was so horrified of what Jenova was, and what she meant.

Thinking of Zack, Aerith let a hand rest on her PHS, sitting on the floorboards next to her. Zack had been texting her nonstop yesterday, but today he hadn’t said so much as a peep. If the Planet hadn’t assured her that he was alive and that he was being watched, she might have been concerned for his well-being.

Aerith sighed quietly and removed another clump of weeds.

“You do this all day?” Balto asked.

“Someone has to make sure the flowers grow well,” Aerith replied. “You’re welcome to help, if you want.”

“Thank you, but no. I got away from my hometown because I didn’t want to grow up a farmer.”

“Suit yourself. There’s something satisfying about it, though.”

“I’ll just have to take your word for it.”

Aerith hummed as her mouth momentarily quirked up in a smile. She would get one of the Turks to help her, one of these days. Maybe then they would realize she was doing something important, and then they would leave her alone.

Maybe she could get Zack to help with that. He probably had some pull with Shinra people. And besides, he still hadn’t been able to make that flower cart yet. She was _definitely_ going to hound him for that when he came back from Costa del Sol.

She giggled to herself. The promise was starting to look more like he owed her a debt! Probably all the better for Aerith, in the long run.

“Hm. I wonder….”

The thought of Sephiroth with flowers braided into his hair as a walking advertisement almost made Aerith roll over from laughter. The tall, stoic Silver General, walking around with pretty flowers braided into his hair! He definitely wouldn’t look like Calamity’s son then!

…yellow probably wouldn’t do for him, though.

“Hm.” Aerith tilted her head in thought. “Say, Balto, do you think you could get me more flower seeds if I asked?”

“More?” There was a pause as Balto thought it over. “Uh, well…maybe someone could find them somewhere. They probably sell some at the market, but I don’t know if they’re going to be any good.”

“Well, if that’s the case, it looks like I’ve got some shopping to do.” Aerith rose to her feet and brushed off her dress, then made sure her pink ribbon was still secured to her hair. It always was, as well as her birth mother’s last gift to her, but Aerith felt safer checking anyway. “I won’t be able to make Midgar very pretty if I only have one kind of flower, after all. I wonder if they have other kinds of lilies….”

Balto made a noise that definitely made it sound like he was wondering what he’d gotten into. Aerith laughed at the sound and smiled at him.

“Well, Mr. Farmer’s Son? Why don’t we see what we can find?”

Balto grumbled at the nickname, but got up from his pew anyway and followed Aerith out of the church. Not like he was going to be able to sit there and watch her through the walls, after all.

\----

Hojo wanted his project to be ready quickly, but it seemed that this particular specimen needed more time to settle into the enhancements. In fact, he seemed to be taking to the mako _too_ well, which was both a blessing and a curse.

“Careful!” Hojo barked at the SOLDIERs loading his equipment into the unwieldy flying machine he was going to be taking. “If you so much as disturb the specimen, I will be forced to start over with one of _you!_ I would appreciate not having to redo all my hard work!”

The SOLDIERs, for all their strength, didn’t seem to be as well known for being _delicate._ At least these ones were Third Class, and therefore not about to break the four mako tanks open if they started to grip them too hard. Hojo was going to have to go over them later, to check for cracks and make sure that none of the mako would be spilling on _him_ during the journey.

“I assume that the lab in Nibelheim has been prepared for my arrival?” Hojo huffed at the other authority figure who was there.

“We just finished moving the last of the staff there this morning,” the director of the Turks replied evenly. Veld had bags under his eyes, but seemed alert despite them. It made Hojo wonder if he should experiment with exposing SOLDIERs to high amounts of caffeine next, to see how well they would be able to stay awake and sane for longer periods than a normal human.

“Good.” Hojo nodded in approval. “None of the locals gave you any trouble?”

“There were some curious looks and a few warnings that the mansion was haunted, but they were eager to leave us alone.” Veld frowned at the last of the four mako tanks as it disappeared into the clunky, bulky flier. Hojo had made sure the glass would not be seen through yet – he wanted this project a secret, still. “You could have gone with them and left this to us, sir.”

“And potentially have them arrive damaged, without my knowledge? Nonsense. Everything I wish to accomplish in Nibelheim hinges on the survival of those four specimens. I need them intact, and as functional as possible.”

Veld frowned, but he didn’t argue. Hojo appreciated that from the Turks – they knew when to keep their mouths shut on projects they didn’t need to have all the details for. So long as the president was happy with his progress, they weren’t allowed to press. It was wonderful.

Speaking of…

“How is the Ancient?” Hojo asked. “Still declining our invitations?”

“That would be correct.” Veld’s jawline hardened into something that wanted to be a scowl, but decided not to be. “She’s still a minor. We can’t expect her to be ready to make decisions like that just yet.”

“We’ll see. Perhaps she just needs some incentive?”

“Any incentive you can give her she would turn down immediately and you know it, sir,” Veld replied calmly. “Tseng has made multiple attempts.”

“Well, tell him to be more persuasive. We need that girl if we are going to find any useful information about the Ancients.”

Veld nodded. If Hojo had been paying attention, he would have seen something flash across Veld’s face. Aerith was a _child,_ after all, and while she may not be the same age as Veld’s Felicia was (or would be, if he knew she still lived)…well, Veld wasn’t keen on seeing a minor end up in Hojo’s labs. He knew what Hojo could get up to, and wasn’t keen on seeing what could happen to Aerith.

The Third Class SOLDIERs turned and saluted. “We’re done loading, sir! We’re ready for departure.”

“Excellent.” Hojo grinned widely and didn’t miss the barely-held back shudders that hit two of the SOLDIERs. The fear was one thing he was pleased about noticing as of late – it kept them all in line and made sure they listened to him when he demanded something of them. “Well, then! Off to Nibelheim. Science waits for no one to discover it, and I am not about to simply let my work idle.”

Veld watched Hojo as he made his way towards the flier, and only allowed his expression to shift to something far less neutral once Hojo and his cargo were taking off. “Rod.”

The codenamed Turk emerged from the shadows behind him, silent as the ninja from Wutai. “Sir.”

“The recent upsets in SOLDIER have come about as a result of the Science Department. As much as the president likes Hojo and what he is capable of creating, something about this batch of experiments is more concerning than the last.” Veld didn’t look back at the Turk, but he knew the junior’s eyebrows were rising. “Someone in SOLDIER is doing some poking around, and the rumors that have been resulting have apparently been sewing some discontent and fear towards the Science Department. Find out what they know.”

“And if they don’t cooperate, sir?”

“I’m sure you’ll find them most agreeable. Second Class Kunsel is almost a Turk in his own right. Just mention me, and he will cooperate.”

Rod nodded and disappeared inside, leaving Veld standing alone on the helicopter pad on top of the building. He closed his eyes and breathed in the early morning air.

If he’d had his way, he would have been in Junon himself, gathering information on this “AVALANCE” group that had popped up as of late. But a Turk without a partner, much less the Director _of_ the Turks, wasn’t someone who could wander as freely as he did once, years before.

Veld caught himself wandering into memories of the past, and pushed them to the back of his mind with a shake of his head. Sets of memories were the _last_ things he wanted to get his attention right now.

He had other things to worry about, in order to keep Shinra together. They didn’t need another incident or disaster.

\----

Kunsel was sitting in the lounge when Rod found him, finishing an email on his PHS. He sent it off before the Turk had the slightest chance to look over his shoulder to see what he was doing.

“Someone wanted advice for a monster hunt; it’s nothing that important.” Kunsel shrugged and tilted his head back at Rod. Reading through the helmet to get a feel for Kunsel’s emotional state was definitely going to be difficult. “You’re the Turk called Rod, then?”

“And you’re the SOLDIER mole,” Rod replied with a frown.

Kunsel snorted. “I’m only a mole if I’m leaking information to people outside the company, and I don’t have those kinds of connections. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone else does, though. Shinra doesn’t get to be this big and successful without a few people’s feet being stepped on.”

“…Veld wasn’t kidding about you being a Turk.”

Kunsel’s mouth quirked. “I’m very comfortable where I am. If Veld wants to convert me to the Turks, he’s going to have to do better than you.”

“I’m…not here to do that.” Rod shook his head.

“Then you’re here to exchange information.” Kunsel patted an open cushion next to him. “My information doesn’t come entirely cheap, you know. I expect something juicy in return.”

“Something to be expected of an informant.” Rod took the invitation, but made sure there was a couch cushion between himself and Kunsel. The SOLDIER didn’t _look_ armed, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t dangerous. Rod would rather stay out of arm’s reach and give himself a moment to get away, rather than have his windpipe crushed immediately if he happened to say something wrong.

Kunsel nodded. “The game goes like this – I’ll tell you what you want first, and then I’ll decide what I want to know based on that.” He grinned. “Or, you’ll owe me a favor. Nothing big, just a little help with keeping the rumor mills running. It’ll be a win-win for both of us.”

“…right.” Rod frowned. He was definitely going to have to be careful with this one, but beating around the bush wasn’t going to help him any, either. “Some of us are wondering what Hojo is currently working on. Know anything about that?”

Kunsel’s shoulders tensed. “Some, but not enough to be useful. You’ve heard about what’s been happening between the Firsts Zack and Sephiroth, right?”

“The rumors about some kind of telepathy?” Rod frowned. “Humans can’t do that.”

“ _Normal_ humans, no.” Kunsel paused. He steepled his fingers in front of him and rested his elbows on his knees. “Some people seem to believe that SOLDIERs can develop a psychic ability of some kind. No details on the specifics yet, but Hojo’s taken an interest in trying to force some of that latent ability out in the open. I _think_ he’s the reason Zack and Sephiroth have been so close as of late, and he’s been trying to recreate the experiment with other, incoming SOLDIERs. I can’t tell you if he’s been successful or not, but….”

Kunsel shrugged, and Rod frowned as he absorbed the information.

“That could potentially work to the company’s advantage,” Rod remarked.

“It could. But if you have one dissenter in the ranks who is really persuasive in _thinking_ speeches rather than _saying_ them, then you will have an entire rebelling force of SOLDIERs before you can say ‘terrorists.’” Kunsel snapped his fingers, as though the quickness of the sound made his point. “I have to wonder why Hojo would go to that much of a risk in order to make telepathic SOLDIERs.”

The SOLDIER-who-wasn’t-a-Turk had a point, although it took Rod a second to see it. He was still a Junior Turk, after all, and he wasn’t quite as good at reading people as others were.

“You think he has something planned.”

“That would be the thought.” Kunsel sighed and shook his head. “I don’t have all the details. Merely rumors and speculation at this point. It’s hard to say what exactly he intends for the final results.” He tilted his head. “You weren’t aware of this?”

“If we are, _I_ wasn’t made aware of it,” Rod replied. “Why Firsts Sephiroth and Zack Fair?”

“You’d be better off asking Hojo himself that.” Kunsel shrugged. “And we both know he’s not going to be that intent on telling us anything.”

“He does have that reputation….”

“Even among the Turks?” Kunsel tilted his head, then grinned. “Interesting, but that’s not the only piece of information I’m going to need in order to call this an even deal.”

Rod blinked. “I’m…I’m not sure if—”

“Relax, I’m not gonna ask you something too high for you. I’m wondering if you can locate an infantryman who is also a SOLDIER hopeful – kid from Nibelheim named Cloud Strife. Zack asked me to keep an eye on him and give him some pointers for his SOLDIER exam, but I haven’t seen his name pop up on the rosters. I doubt that he gave up and went home, considering the impression Zack had of _him_ and the impression _Zack_ no doubt made on Cloud.” Kunsel held out his hands, palms up. “Just find the kid and tell me where he is, and I won’t force you into some ridiculous skit to keep the rumor mill going.”

Rod blinked. “An infantryman? I…all right. I’ll look into it.”

“Thanks, man. I appreciate it.” Kunsel clapped a hand on Rod’s shoulder and nodded to him, then rose from the couch and left the Turk well enough alone.

At least the helmet kept the Turk from seeing that Kunsel was frowning.

_Cloud Strife…what is it about you that made you suddenly disappear?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week, we'll be in Junon! See you there on Tuesday!


	23. Junon

Two Genesis copies that used to be infantry met Zack, Sephiroth, Cissnei, and Tseng as soon as they stepped off the ferry.

Sephiroth had the head off one of them mere seconds before Zack had cut down his.

“Well, you were right about the Genesis copies.” Zack nodded to Tseng as he moved to give one of them a closer look. “Any idea what they’re after?”

“Hollander is here in Junon,” Tseng replied. “I would find it unlikely that this attack is unrelated.” He looked to Zack and Sephiroth. “We’ll handle evacuating the residents. The two of you should locate Hollander and make sure Genesis can’t reach him. If there’s a chance that AVALANCHE is in the city as well, figure out what it is they’re here for and put a stop to them as well.”

Sephiroth inclined his head. “Where is Hollander?”

“A detention center on the eighth level of Upper Junon,” Tseng replied.

“You can use the emergency elevator to go up,” Cissnei spoke up. “It’s at the end of the path here.”

Sephiroth nodded, looked at Zack, then started moving in the direction Cissnei pointed out.

Zack ran after him. “They’re making us babysit _Hollander?”_

“He was a part of the science department for a time, _and_ he had access to information most others don’t.” Sephiroth gave Zack a pointed look. “People like us, for example.”

“ _Oh.”_ A grin crossed Zack’s face. “Oh, I like this.”

“But if Tseng tells us we’re needed elsewhere, we will likely have to leave off questioning him. With Lazard being absent, SOLDIER doesn’t have a proper chain of command like what we’re used to.” Sephiroth stopped as a trio of Genesis copies ran down the street towards them.

“So, we gotta listen to the Turks?” Zack frowned as he held the Buster sword in front of him.

“I believe in this instance I _could_ pull rank, but they will not be expecting us to do that. Not when they believe we are still…loyal, to Shinra.”

The Genesis copies attempted to swarm the two SOLDIERs, but they were merely infantry, not SOLDIERs copied over into Genesis’ genetics.

 _-These guys definitely forgot that you don’t bring a gun to a SOLDIER sword fight-_ Zack cut down one, only to jump back as two more attempted to rush him.

 _-Clearly, they intend to use strength in numbers to make a mark-_ Sephiroth replied. _-Zack, behind!-_

 _-Gotcha!-_ The copy that was about to fire on Zack had the gun swiped out of his hands, along _with_ his hands. A head went rolling seconds later, red infantry helmet and all. _-You’ve got one sneaking up on you, too!-_

Sephiroth was already moving to land a killing blow on the copy’s neck. _-I sensed him coming, but I appreciate your warning-_

A Genesis copy tried to get behind both of them, and this time he was taken out by two different swords cutting him down at once.

Zack frowned as he sensed the connection shift. _-Do you think we should- -_

 _\- -Let us settle in sync?-_ Sephiroth frowned. _-We should hold- -_

 _\- -off on it for now, got it-_ Zack breathed in deeply and pulled back from Sephiroth, pulling up his barrier slightly as he did. It wasn’t enough to completely cut each other off, but it was enough to keep them separated, for the moment. “You’re cautious about it because of…”

“That would be the thought, yes.” Sephiroth glanced around, scanning for more Genesis copies. “If there is anything of that monster in me that could activate when we let the connection run too deep, it would be wiser to avoid making use of it, for now.”

“Okay, yeah, that makes sense. We can still talk to each other that way, though, right?”

“I see no reason not to. Be we should not fall in sync with each other.”

“Got it.” Zack’s gaze moved to a nearby wall. The door that was in it caught his attention. “That must be the elevator Cissnei mentioned.” He walked towards it. “C’mon, we gotta get to Hollander before Genesis does, right?” _-And get some answers out of him if there are any?-_

“Hm.” Sephiroth nodded, a glimmer of knowing amusement crossing their connection as he followed Zack into the open elevator.

Zack moved to the back wall as the elevator started moving up. He almost considered taking a quick moment to close his eyes for a few seconds, but thought against it. This wasn’t a time to take a nap.

“Hey, if we run into Genesis – the _real_ Genesis – are we going to try to talk him down this time?” Zack tilted his head at Sephiroth. “I think I might have gotten through to him in Modeoheim, but….”

Sephiroth frowned. “If he is still alive, and he is willing to listen to reason when you speak to him, I will consider holding back my blade. But if he does not….” His expression hardened.

Zack held back a wince at Sephiroth’s mental images for what would become of Genesis as the elevator came to a stop. “Yeah, I get it, I get it.” He stepped away from the wall and rested a hand on the Buster sword, ready to swing it off his back at a moment’s notice.

Sephiroth had his hand on Masamune’s hilt as well, but while he and Zack were prepared for a fight as soon as the elevator opened, they weren’t expecting the sight they were greeted with.

Shinra infantrymen and Genesis copy lookalikes lay scattered on the street, but they weren’t the only ones on the ground. A few men and women wearing tan-colored uniforms were among the bodies as well.

 _-I think that’s AVALAN – hey! Genesis!-_ Zack swung the Buster sword in front of him in a ready stance as the degrading figure of the defected First stumbled towards them.

Except, instead of his standard rapier, he was armed with a long sword with a gun barrel near the hilt.

“A copy,” Sephiroth said shortly. He unsheathed his katana and caught the gunblade as it came swinging at them. “It seems the blade is too big for him to properly handle.”

“Well, looks like we’ll just have to alleviate that weight, won’t we?” Zack swung forward with a battle cry, slicing into the copy as Sephiroth continued to hold the gunblade in place, locked with Masamune as the copy struggled to move it. “You’re a mage, you idiot, not some heavy-duty walking tank! You never would’ve been able to lift that thing, even if you were at full strength!”

The Genesis copy didn’t give a verbal response, but a part of Zack felt he could almost see the frustration show up on his face.

Unfortunately, said face was soon ruined by Sephiroth taking advantage of the copy’s distraction. Masamune slashed across Genesis’ face, leaving a bleeding line through one eye and across his nose into his cheek, which was left sliced open as the copy collapsed.

“Is that what you’re planning on doing to the real one?” Zack asked as the copy dissolved into the lifestream.

“And what if I am?” Sephiroth replied.

His thoughts betrayed him, however, and Zack couldn’t help but shudder at the gruesome picture Sephiroth wanted to paint with Genesis’ blood.

_-Do you really hate him that much?-_

Sephiroth didn’t get a chance to answer, mentally or otherwise.

“Sirs! Sirs!” A Third Class SOLDIER ran up, looking a little worse for wear. “Hollander’s escaped!”

Zack and Sephiroth exchanged looks.

“How?” Sephiroth asked.

“Did Genesis or AVALANCHE attack the detention center?” Zack pressed.

“No, sir. With security spread so thin, Hollander was able to find a way out without enough people being able to stop him in time.”

Zack frowned. He looked about ready to punch something from the frustration of not being able to question Hollander about what he knew about Jenova, but Sephiroth had something darker lingering at the back of his mind.

“This attack worked too well in his favor,” Sephiroth remarked. “He may be getting outside help.”

“That’s what some of us think, sir.” The Third Class nodded. “AVALANCHE has been kidnapping SOLDIERs. A few people think they’re trying to make people like us.”

“ _They’re_ trying to make—” Zack cut himself off. He did _not_ want to go down that rabbit hole, and Sephioth’s alarm said he wasn’t planning on it, either. “So, they think Hollander can help them do that? That’s just….”

“Which way did he go, SOLDIER?” Sephiroth asked.

“We’ve got security cameras up on the sixth floor ID-ing him, sir. We’ve got our hands full down here with the Genesis copies and AVALANCE grunts that are everywhere. Oh – watch out for a man calling himself Shears. He’s one of AVALANCHE’s leaders, and he’s supposed to be around here somewhere.”

“Shears?” Zack frowned. “Okay, we’ll keep that in mind. You go help your buddies out; we’ll handle things from here.”

“Sir!” The Third saluted, then turned and ran the way he’d come.

“Any idea how to get to Hollander from here?” Zack looked to Sephiroth, frowning.

“From what I recall, Junon’s two districts are connected by a passageway that should be reachable on this floor,” Sephiroth remarked. “If Hollander thinks to be making his escape, we should be able to reach him near there.”

“Sounds like a good enough plan to me! So let’s go find that old man before he gets himself hurt!”

There was a warning shot of gunfire seconds before another one of those gunblade-toting Genesis copies dropped down in front of them.

Zack groaned loudly. _-Of all the-- -_

 _-Focus, Zack-_ Sephiroth launched himself forward at the copy, once again intent on catching the blade.

 _-I am, I am! Geez!-_ Zack followed after him, swinging in low and fast.

The blade cut into one of the copy’s legs, and when the copy attempted to attack, Sephiroth continued to hold the blade at bay as Zack finished him off.

 _-Are you being nice in letting me finish these guys off, or do you expect me to hold the blade next time?-_ Zack huffed as he pulled the Buster sword out of the copy’s chest, letting it fall back to the ground. He flicked the blood off the blade as best he could.

“I thought it best that we took turns, in case we both end up killing him at once,” Sephiroth replied. “If, in a heightened emotional state, we forget to keep ourselves out of sync, that could happen.”

“Yeah, guess so…kinda wish we’d spent more time practicing getting _out_ of sync then, if that’s the case.” Zack started moving further along the road, Sephiroth following after him. “I mean, if strong emotions can pull us in and kick us out, and that’s the only way we know _how,_ if we get used to it, then….”

“It could prove disastrous, if whatever lies in me decides to make itself known,” Sephiroth agreed.

“Makes me _really glad_ we practiced blocking each other out for that first week.” Zack laughed nervously. “If we can pinpoint where any nasty thoughts are coming from, we could probably block it out together no problem.”

“Hm. That would prove to be an advantageous defense mechanism.”

“Yeah, so we should definitely keep an eye out for when something like that weird chill you felt the other day in the church happens again, cause then—” Zack cut himself off when he caught sight of a lab coat just ahead of them, being worn by the very man they were out tracking. “Hey, Hollander! Stop right there!”

Hollander turned his head at the shout and flinched back when he saw Zack and Sephiroth. “Tch! Not you two!” He turned and ran, which was not as fast as a SOLDIER could run. “Take care of those them! I don’t intend to be caught by those imbeciles again!”

“Don’t think you can just walk away!” Zack dashed after Hollander, only to jump back when a pair of figures wearing a tan uniform jumped into the street, armed with gunblades that didn’t look quite as ridiculous as the Genesis copies’.

 _-We have more company-_ Sephiroth shifted behind Zack, bringing Masamune up as the sound of a weapon being dragged across the ground reached Zack’s ears.

Zack groaned. “You have _got_ to be kidding me. So these guys are working together, huh?”

“So it would seem.”

“We won’t let you take Hollander!” one of the AVALANCE members shouted. “He’s coming with us!”

“That’s my line!” Zack grinned, but it wasn’t a nice expression. “We’re not done with him yet, so I’d recommend walking away from all this, instead of letting yourself get killed defending a criminal.”

“Like we’re gonna listen to you!” the other AVALANCHE member snapped back. He opened fire while his partner rushed forward, gunblade ready to slash into Zack.

Zack caught the blade with his own while Sephiroth did the same against the Genesis copy that had attempted to sneak up on them. “What the hell do you want with Hollander, anyway? That guy committed crimes against humanity!”

“That’s not something that you need to know, _Shinra lap—_ ”

The Buster sword slid through the man’s neck as soon as Zack was given an opening. These terrorists were going to be _much_ easier to take down than copies of a man who had once been a First Class SOLDIER.

“You’re supposed to be ecoterrorists, right? Unless you’re planning on genetically altering the wildlife to _destroy itself,_ you’re gonna get nothing useful out of Hollander.” Zack rushed for the next terrorist, who barely managed to bring his weapon up in time.

“You—”

“Trust me, we’re more trouble than we’re worth the effort you’re putting in.”

The second AVALANCHE member went down as Sephiroth finished cutting the Genesis copy to pieces.

“Giving information to the enemy is unwise,” Sephiroth warned.

“These guys were dead meat anyway.” Zack frowned, then shook his head. “C’mon, we gotta catch up to them before Hollander gets away.”

He took off towards the gate. Sephiroth caught up to him with graceful ease.

“They are only dead if you can kill them before they can run,” Sephiroth replied. “You shouldn’t speak to them so flippantly.”

“I’ll think about it.”

_-I will know if you are-_

Zack rolled his eyes at Sephiroth as they reached the gate, but before he could get the gate open, the button console was shot to pieces by someone coming up behind them.

Zack swung around and glared at the Genesis copy and AVALANCHE members who were coming up behind them. “What – _seriously?_ Where are these things _coming_ from?!”

“You really are intent on keeping us from Hollander,” Sephiroth noted with a frown. “I think you have something in mind for him that would _not_ be wise.”

The AVALANCHE figures raised their guns as the Genesis copy struggled with his own.

“Do what you want, we’re not letting you have him!” one of the AVALANCHE members barked.

“We’ll see about that.” Sephiroth glanced at Zack, then lunged towards their opponents. Zack followed after him, the Buster sword swinging forward.

\----

AVALANCHE, Genesis copies, and random pieces of tech continued to attempt to slow Zack and Sephiroth down as they hounded Hollander across Junon. More than once, they almost fell in sync, but pulled back before they could start thinking in unison.

Sephiroth hadn’t picked up on the strange feeling he’d had in Aerith’s church yet, that strange chill he’d felt down his spine at seeing the flowers there. He wasn’t about to go searching for it now – not when they were trying to track down a scientist before he ran off elsewhere.

“Where does he keep pulling all these mechs from?” Zack complained as the mech’s core exploded. “Has AVALANCHE been stealing from us or something?”

“If they have, I should think we have a mole on our hands.” Sephiroth frowned at the collapsed form of the scorpion sentinel.

“More dangerous than me giving vague warnings to each of the AVALANCHE guys we run into.” Zack frowned. “Just what are they thinking…?”

“Whatever it is they are thinking doesn’t matter at the moment,” Sephiroth replied evenly. “We need to reach Hollander before AVALANCHE can assist him in escaping.”

“Yeah, definitely.” Zack scowled, then lifted his head slightly. There was movement on one of the piers. It was hard to see at this distance, with the sunset in his eyes, but one of the figures _looked_ like he was wearing a lab coat. “Hey – I think I see him! Over there!”

“They likely have plans.” Sephiroth started moving forward. “I doubt he would move towards a dead end and jump into the sea.”

Zack followed. “Yeah...there’s others with him, too. Wanna bet it’s AVALANCHE?”

“I will not ‘bet’ on anything, but I would _assume_ that is the case, if they aren’t Genesis copies.” Sephiroth picked up his pace slightly, and Zack did as well. He wasn’t keen on being left behind, especially when Hollander was looking to escape with a terrorist group.

Neither one of them wanted to let Hollander get away, when there was a chance that he could know something about Jenova that they didn’t have access to. Like the kind of monster she was, _why_ they’d thought she was an Ancient, and why they’d thought to try and use her in people like Angeal and Genesis.

And Sephiroth, for that matter.

_-The official story is that it was for the sake of creating the SOLDIER program, but I have my doubts-_

Zack snorted at Sephiroth’s words. _-Yeah, no kidding-_

The AVALANCHE members certainly knew they were coming by the time they’d caught up to Hollander and the two AVALANCHE members.

“Hold it right—”

A backhanded swipe by Zack and the flat side of his Buster sent them flying off the pier. _-They won’t like hitting the water from this high up, that’s for sure-_

 _-The collision should end him-_ Sephiroth pointed his sword at Hollander. “Surrender, Hollander. You have nowhere else to go.”

Hollander stared at the two of them, then burst out laughing. “Are you sure about that?”

Zack frowned as Sephiroth’s eyes narrowed.

“Why were you and Hojo so enamored with Jenova?” Sephiroth demanded. “What reason would you have to experiment with putting that genetic data in people?”

Hollander’s eyebrows rose. “You weren’t made aware?” A short laugh escaped him. “How interesting. As much as I’d like to enlighten you, there are some things that only Hojo knows. And I don’t intend to help him.”

Zack stood next to Sephiroth. “What makes you—”

Hollander fell back off the pier, turning Zack’s question into a shout of surprise.

Zack started moving towards the edge. “Did he just—”

A flash of black feathers cut Zack off as Hollander was suddenly lifted past them and out of sight, carried by two winged Genesis copies.

Zack cursed – both vocally and over his connection with Sephiroth. “Of _course_ he just – GAH! And now he’s—”

“It seems we’ll have to count this as a failed mission,” Sephiroth said with barely held-back disappointment. There was something else churning at the back of his mind, however – an annoyance that Zack picked up on. “We’ll have to leave the Turks to handle clean-up here, and discovering where his location is. This…’AVALANCHE’ also troubles me. They had some interest in Hollander.”

“Probably because of the Genesis copies.” Zack huffed as footsteps resounded from behind them. Tseng and Cissnei had caught up with them, just to see Hollander disappear on the horizon with his winged copies. _-I **really** hope we don’t end up with wings like they did. **Especially** if it means we could be going insane-_

_-…agreed-_

“Sephiroth. Zack.”

The two looked over at Tseng approached, lowering his PHS.

“We’re getting sightings of Genesis copies working in tandem with AVALANCHE in other places.” Tseng looked between them. “We’re going to need the two of you back in Midgar to gain control of the situation.”

“Any idea why they’re working together?” Zack frowned.

Tseng shook his head. “We don’t have enough information yet. Hopefully we will find something soon.”

“Action will carry us farther than hope,” Sephiroth replied. “Let us return to Midgar and see about taking care of this problem, before it escalates further.”

“Sounds good to me!” Zack spoke up in agreement. _-We can check in on Aerith. I don’t want to see her getting hurt by anything that might be going on…the slums are always full of monsters-_

_-It would be wise to check when we return. I assume you will be all right with handling such a matter alone?-_

_-Well, duh!-_

_-Good-_ Sephiroth nodded. _-I will investigate…other places-_

“Let’s go.” Tseng moved past them, ignoring Cissnei staring at Zack and Sephiroth with an odd expression at their silent conversation. “Heidegger will no doubt be settling into his new position by now. It wouldn’t be wise to keep him waiting.”

Zack did a doubletake. “Heidegger?”

“Someone had to take control of SOLDIER in Lazard’s absence. The man volunteered.”

Zack frowned. _-I’ve got a bad feeling about this….-_

 _-Withhold them until we return-_ Sephiroth moved to follow after Tseng. _-We have other things to worry about. Genesis, for example-_

 _-Yeah, yeah…-_ Zack moved to catch up with him, Cissnei trailing behind. “Why is it that every time we turn around there’s another problem? I would’ve liked to not dealt with problems that came _from_ Shinra, thanks.”

“A problem to solve another day,” Tseng replied.


	24. Church Stand-Off

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Consider this a "mini arc" before we get to Nibelheim. I mostly threw the events of last chapter, this chapter, and next chapter together because I wanted to acknowledge AVALANCHE's existence before we meet the AVALANCHE that is more familiar to us.
> 
> The plot is definitely shifting further away from canon the longer we go, though.

As soon as they hit Midgar, Zack was out of the helicopter, out of the Shinra building, and heading down to the slums as fast as his feet or the trains could carry him. He was _not_ about to potentially leave Aerith alone with something dangerous, especially if there was a chance that Genesis, Hollander, and AVALANCHE were doing something. He wanted to make sure she was okay in the _city_ before he went copy hunting.

He saw Tseng almost try to stop him when he’d left, but Sephiroth had intervened. Made Zack _really_ grateful that he had him as a friend, _and_ that he knew just how important Aerith was.

Sephiroth knew this, of course, and sent back a vague feeling of “ _you owe me”_ and “ _we’ll be in touch”_ before closing off his side of the connection. Probably for the better, just in case Zack ran into something that almost made them fall in sync again. Zack wasn’t too keen on finding out if they _could_ speak in unison with this distance, at this point in time.

The train ride down to the slums made him antsy and impatient, but there were people on the train, so he had to keep himself in check. Making people around him nervous was _not_ a very good idea, after all. SOLDIERs were meant to be around to help calm people down, not rile them up.

Still, that didn’t stop Zack’s knee from jittering up and down all the way down to Sector 5’s slums, where he jumped out and made a beeline for the church immediately.

Thankfully – or maybe strangely – Zack didn’t run into any monsters running around on the way over to the church. He hadn’t been to Aerith’s actual _house_ yet, and something told him barging into buildings uninvited and calling for Aerith to strangers was a _very bad idea._

Besides, her mother probably wouldn’t have taken to the intrusion too well. Aerith probably hadn’t even _told_ her about Zack yet, or the whole Calamity thing.

The church was, thankfully, still standing when Zack arrived, and it didn’t look like it had been broken into. He took it to mean nothing had changed in the week that he’d been gone in Costa del Sol, and bounded over to the church’s entrance before throwing it open.

“Aer—” Zack’s grin dropped at the sight that greeted him.

“-don’t know where it is. I can’t help you.” Aerith huffed and turned away from the two figures who were standing on one side of her flower patch, then locked eyes with Zack and stiffened. “Zack!”

The other two figures – a woman with a katana and a man who had his hair tied back in a bandanna – turned as well. Their eyes narrowed when they caught sight of him.

“What’s going on in here?” Zack stepped forward, frowning. “Aerith, who are these guys?”

“Stay back, Shina scum.” The man pulled out a gun and pointed it at Zack. “You’re not getting anywhere near the—”

“Yeah, well, same to you, _pal,_ ” Zack snapped back. “What the hell are you doing down here? In case you haven’t noticed, church isn’t in session, and Aerith _really_ doesn’t like it when people try to step on her flowers.”

“Tch.” The man’s expression twisted into a snarl, and he started to step forward. The woman next to him put an arm out before he could get far, stopping him from stepping into the gap in the floorboards where Aerith’s flowers were growing. “Elfe—”

“Shears, wait. We’re at a disadvantage here.” The woman – Elfe, apparently – turned to look at Zack with a frown. “You’re that SOLDIER, Zack Fair. The one who rose through the ranks so quickly that Shinra has been using you as propaganda material to bring in more SOLDIERs.”

“They have?” Zack blinked at the thought. “Didn’t notice. Must’ve started when I was off on leave.” He shook his head. “What do you want with Aerith? She’s just a civilian who likes flowers a bunch.”

And knew things about Jenova and Sephiroth, but Zack wasn’t about to dip into _that_ in front of a couple armed strangers. Or the Ancient thing that Cissnei had mentioned.

Shears’ frown turned into more of a scowl.

“What we want to do with her is no business of yours,” Elfe replied. “I would suggest that you leave, if you value your life.”

“Zack, be careful.” Aerith sounded worried. “She’s got a voice in her that sounds like it’s in pain.”

“In pain, huh?” Zack frowned. He considered reaching back to grab his sword, but Shears was already pointing a weapon at him. He didn’t know how quick on the draw Shears was, but he wasn’t about to test his own speed. He kinda needed his hands. “What kind of person has an extra voice that’s in pain, Aerith?”

Shears gaze shifted to Elfe, but he didn’t lower his gun. Elfe, on her part, looked confused.

Aerith shook her head. “I’m not sure. There’s a lot of things I don’t know.”

“Like where the place we’re looking for is,” Elfe said, frowning. “But you should know something like that.”

“And I’m telling you I _don’t._ So please, just…leave me alone? Please?” Aerith looked between the two of them. “Or…or maybe I could help with the pained voice instead? There’s something about you that doesn’t seem right.”

Zack kept his hands visible as he moved closer, but Shears made sure to glare at him before he could get too far. The safety wasn’t off on the gun yet, but _man_ did Shears look close to firing. It looked like he was intent on aiming for Zack’s head, too.

_If Sephiroth doesn’t feel that when he fires, I’d be amazed at how thick his walls are._

Elfe looked like she was about to say something, but then the church doors behind Zack creaked loudly.

Zack turned and stiffened when he saw the small, rolling tank fumbling its way into the church, the Shinra logo proudly displayed on the riot shield that was fixed to the front of it.

“Of all the stupid—” Zack sighed heavily and pulled the Buster off his back. “You have _got_ to be kidding me. Genesis or Hollander or whoever, _stop_ making my life miserable!”

He lunged forward, but a flash of white and gray got to the tank first and slammed it down on its side before jumping back, between Zack and the tank.

The two flaring wings on the monster’s back made Zack stumble to a halt. “What in –”

The small tank exploded, scorching the wood floor below it, but not doing any further damage to the church. Zack was paying more attention to the creature in front of him than the explosion, however.

A dog-like thing, with two wings. One was bigger than the other, but the combination was familiar enough that Zack felt his chest wrench with a guilt and sadness that had really settled in after the mission to Modeoheim.

“Are you…”

The monster turned and raised its head. Right there, under its jaw, was Angeal’s face.

“An Angeal copy?” Zack couldn’t help but stare as the creature lowered its face. “But – I would’ve thought all of you died when Angeal—”

No, no, don’t think about that. That would only made the pain in his chest that much _worse._

The copy stumbled towards him, probably still stunned from the blow it had inflicted on the small tank. It came to a stop in front of Zack and almost seemed to eye him.

Zack didn’t notice that it was swaying back and forth until it collapsed.

“Wha – hey!” Zack knelt down to give the creature a closer look. He heard footsteps on the floorboards behind him. “Oh…you’re degrading too, huh. Guess Hollander wasn’t right about Angeal being ‘perfection.’ Pheh.”

“Hollander?” repeated Shears. Oh, right, he and Elfe were still there.

“None of your business,” Zack called back.

“We’re AVALANCHE,” Shears snapped back. “Anything Shinra does, we _make_ our business.”

Zack turned and glared at Shears and Elfe as the Angeal copy-monster stumbled to get to its feet. “Then _don’t work with Hollander._ If you want anything he can make, he’ll only make things _worse._ Take my advice and dump him somewhere that he won’t get to make any more trouble for _anybody._ And trash anything he’s gotten his hands on, too. The less of his junk that’s around, the better off we’re _all_ gonna be.”

Shears and Elfe exchanged looks as Zack adjusted his grip on the Buster sword. If he needed to beat it into their heads, he would. If he _couldn’t,_ he was just going to have to take them both outside of the church and deal with them. At least Aerith’s flowers wouldn’t get bloodied that way.

“We’ll take that into consideration,” Elfe said evenly. “But we’re not going to take advice from someone who willingly works for a company that is destroying the world and sucking the lifeblood from it.” She unsheathed her katana and pointed it at Zack, watching him through narrow eyes. A part of Zack wondered if her katana was as long as Sephiroth’s. “I would recommend that you leave us alone, and let us take the Ancient with us. She won’t be harmed.”

“Like _hell_ I’m letting you leave with her,” Zack snapped. He looked at Aerith, who was looking between them with an increasingly alarmed expression. “She’s safer here with her flowers than she is with whatever it is _you_ want to do. _Especially_ if you have Hollander.”

After what had happened to Angeal and Genesis, Zack did _not_ want to see what a mad scientist could do to _Aerith._ She was a civilian, _and_ the last Ancient alive. An Ancient who was willing to spend time with him _despite_ what was running through Sephiroth. She was willing to help.

AVALANCHE? They probably weren’t going to be so eager to let Aerith spend time with Zack and Sephiroth.

Zack was half-ready to leap forward and attack Elfe when Aerith moved to stand between them.

“Please, just…just leave. Please. I can’t help you.” Aerith looked between Shears and Elfe, frowning. “I _can’t_ help you. Just leave me and go. I’m safe here.”

“Can you really say that? With a SOLDIER right there?” Shears motioned to Zack with his gun, frowning.

“I agree.” Elfe nodded. “It would be safer if you were away from Shinra, Aerith. We can help you far better than they can.”

“Can you? When you have a piece of yourself that’s crying out in pain?” Aerith looked at Elfe with a pointed frown, making Elfe look away. “If you want to fight – fine. Just don’t do it in here.”

“You—”

“You’ll _hurt the flowers.”_ Aerith gave Shears a pointed look that made him stand down. “Zack’s my bodyguard, anyway. He keeps me safe. He’s not gonna let anyone do anything to me.”

Bodyguard, huh? Zack could get used to that. “Yeah. She’s a civilian; it’d be stupid if anyone tried to sneak past me and do anything to her.”

Elfe looked like she wasn’t sure whether to stab Zack or lower her sword. “You aren’t what I expected in a SOLDIER.”

“Yeah?”

“SOLDIERs are meant to be one-man armies that burn the planet to the ground just as much as Shinra does. You…”

“I signed up with them because I wanted to be a hero.” Zack shrugged. “Some things changed after I joined up, but I still want to be a hero.” He frowned and pointed his sword at Elfe and Shears. “You people threatening a civilian isn’t exactly my idea of being heroes, if you want me on your side. Working with that freak Hollander and whatever copies of Genesis there are running with you isn’t a good idea, either. I’ll let you AVALANCHE people go just this once, because I’m a nice guy and I don’t want to destroy Aerith’s flowers, but if I hear anything about you working with Hollander to make more Genesis clones out of actual people, or doing your own thing, I’m not gonna be so nice next time.”

Aerith visibly relaxed at Zack’s words. Guess she hadn’t been so eager to see them killed. Zack’s guess had been right on that.

Elfe and Shears exchanged looks again.

“This better not be a trap,” Shears said.

“Zack is being honest,” Aerith spoke up. “ _He_ isn’t planning a trap. He just wanted to make sure that I was okay.” She gave the two of them a pointed look. “And if you want to fight, _don’t do it over my flowers.”_

“Shears.” Elfe sheathed her sword, then moved to walk past him and towards Zack and the Angeal copy-monster, which was sitting between Zack and the others. Shears seemed to get the message and followed after her.

Zack watched them approach, but Elfe didn’t move to unsheathe her katana and attack, so he kept the Buster sword held in one hand and didn’t move to swing. Shears had his gun in his hand still, anyway.

Elfe came to a stop next to Zack. “You say you want to be a hero. Is that what you _fight_ for?”

“Well, it’s my dream. Not much of a dream if I can’t fight for it, right? I want to be able to keep people safe and be someone everyone else can look up to. Shinra was the best way to do that.”

“Was?”

Zack frowned. “Yeah, I know, things haven’t been great lately, but you’re not getting me to _your_ side anytime soon. Go on, shoo. Or else I’m gonna chase you of here and cut you down in the street, and I’m not sure if I want to traumatize Aerith that much.”

“Flowers sometimes need a bit of blood to give them the nutrients they need,” Aerith remarked. “I don’t think they’d mind it _too_ much. I just don’t want them getting crushed.”

“We’re leaving,” Elfe promised. She gave Shears a pointed look, then looked to Aerith. “Remember what we told you.”

“I won’t forget.” Aerith nodded. “And make sure you get your hand looked at? Please? I don’t think that walking around with that in there is a good idea for you.”

Elfe tilted her head. “I’ll take that into consideration.” She gave Zack a pointed look, then walked past him and out of the church.

Shears glared at Zack as he walked past, almost threatening Zack to do something. Zack didn’t, and he ran out of the church after Elfe.

Zack remained still for a moment, then sighed and put the Buster sword back against his back. “Aerith, why do you keep getting mixed up in things?”

“It’s not _my_ fault,” Aerith replied. “Everyone else just seems to think that I know something that they want to know.” She huffed. “It’s stupid. The least they could do is go research things on their own, not ask _me._ ”

“…yeah, gotta admit, asking a teenager for help is a pretty silly idea.” Zack looked back at the church doors. “Still, though… _AVALANCHE?_ Seriously? I really hope the Turks do a better job of keeping them off your back.” He paused. “Or…do _you_ know how to defend yourself, Aerith?”

“I don’t really worry about that,” Aerith replied. Her expression brightened. “Hey! How about you help me build that flower wagon that you promised you’d help me with? You _did_ say that you were going to help me make one.”

“N- _now?”_

“Yes! You’re down here, after all, and I don’t get to see you very much!” Aerith almost looked like she was _pouting._ “And you _did_ promise.”

That… _was_ true…

“…okay, okay, I’ll see what I can do. But I _do_ have something else I’ve gotta do, too, so don’t expect me to do too well at getting all the stuff together.”

“So long as you help!” Aerith smiled brightly. “Thanks, Zack!”

“Yeah, sure, I can do that.” Zack gave Aerith a pointed look. “But don’t blame me if it takes a while! I’m gonna be taking out monsters while I’m down here, too!”

“Sounds good to me!”

Zack nodded, then turned his attention to the Angeal copy-monster, who was still sitting on the floor of the church. “And _you._ You’re not here to cause any trouble, are you? Cause if you are, Aerith won’t like it very much if you get into her flowers.”

The monster stared back at him, then rose to its feet and unsteadily took off. The creature circled around him once before flying up to a beam that ran across the open space under the roof. It looked down at them from its perch.

“I think I’ll be okay,” Aerith said. “I don’t think it’s here to hurt me.”

“He’d better not.” Zack frowned at the monster. “You behave up there, okay? I don’t want to come back and see you ripping up her flowers.”

The monster huffed, and Zack grinned a little. He hoped that meant it wasn’t keen on doing that, either.

“Good.” Zack nodded then turned and walked out of the church –

\--only to be met with _more_ tanks like the one that had barged in.

“What the hell is it with the slums and hiding things that want to attack me today?!”

\----

The debriefing on AVALANCHE was somewhat what Sephiroth had been expecting. A group of ecoterrorists who wanted to take down Shinra because of the mako reactors. They also had a strange interest in Hollander and his work, and had offered to help him get away from Shinra in exchange for assisting them with making their own SOLDIER-like program.

The real Genesis was nowhere to be seen. Sephiroth hoped that meant either the man was dead, or laying low, waiting for a chance to make himself known in the most dramatic fashion possible. He’d always had a knack for things like that.

And Sephiroth had a knack for whacking him in the head whenever he’d tried to sneak up on _him_ with a dramatic surprise in mind.

“The one that needs to be found the most is Fuhito.” Veld frowned at Sephiroth from the other side of what used to be the SOLDIER director’s office. Heidegger lounged in what had once been Lazard’s seat, looking like he had owned the place for as long as Lazard had been there. “As a scientist, he could potentially replicate the SOLDIER program, but we don’t know his true motives in attempting something like that. We need to make sure that he never gets his hands on that information.”

“Hollander wasn’t directly involved in Hojo’s creation of the SOLDIER program, so I doubt he will get as much information as he wants,” Sephiroth replied evenly. “Although, I have to question what part Lazard has to play in all this. What led him to his decision to fund Hollander in his exploits with Genesis and Angeal?”

“I believe there were some rumors that he was an illegitimate child of the president’s, sir,” Veld replied.

Heidegger laughed. “There are always rumors. It just proves that he wasn’t prepared for the responsibility of the position.”

“That may be, but the SOLDIERs under my command appreciated his leadership.” Sephiroth gave Heidegger a lidded look that made the Director of Public Security stiffen up. “You may not think you have a large position to fill, Director Heidegger, but you do.”

Heidegger huffed, but he didn’t offer any sort of bravado-filled response like he normally would.

“What of the other leaders of AVALANCHE?” Sephiroth looked back at Veld. “You mentioned that there were three.”

“Elfe and Shears seem to be more visible than Fuhito is, but not by much. We’ve had reports of them going out and recruiting people for their cause, starting from the area around Cosmo Canyon and working their way across the continents. We haven’t laid eyes on Elfe yet, but Shears has been seen and positively identified.”

“Getting that information to the other SOLDIERs would be wise,” Sephiroth said. Veld, at least, had a level head compared to Heidegger. He knew what sort of information was needed to fulfill missions like this.

The Turks knew how to cooperate when they needed to. “Retrieving Hollander before _more_ Genesis copies make an appearance should be a priority.”

Heidegger snorted. “Why would—”

“They use _our_ SOLDIERs to copy Genesis’ traits and make their copies,” Sephiroth replied. “As well as _our_ members of public security. I would not be surprised if some of your missing in action soldiers turned out to be a part of Hollander’s growing experimental army.”

That made Heidegger turn a little paler. Good. Now he knew what was at stake a little better.

“I’ll make sure that we have eyes to find him,” Veld said. “Stolen technology and knowledge isn’t something we can continue to let run rampant.”

Sephiroth nodded. “What of their combat capabilities?”

“Elfe seems to copy your skillset. She carries a katana, and is likely enhanced, from what we’ve been told.” Veld paused. “Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to get more information than that.”

Another wielder of a katana. Interesting.

“We will have to make sure that their message isn’t wide-spread enough to destroy what Shinra has built up,” Heidegger said with a huff. “I’m sure they won’t get far, with Public Security _and_ SOLDIER hounding after them.”

He laughed, and Sephiroth kept himself carefully composed despite how grating the sound was.

_If we don’t find out everything they know about Jenova **and** why they decided to use her despite the danger she posed, I would rather leave Shinra after AVALANCHE is dealt with, rather than continue to deal with some of these people._


	25. Mission Prep

Collecting parts for a wagon would have gone that much easier if Zack didn’t need to deal with the monsters running around. The little tanks that had tried to break into the church were at least _somewhat_ helpful in clearing the copies out, but Tseng had said that they couldn’t tell between copies and SOLDIERs yet.

Unless they were picking up on the Angeal copy that was now living in Aerith’s church, but it seemed harmless. For the moment, anyway.

“It’s…not _quite_ what I was expecting.” Aerith frowned at the wagon.

“Really? I think it’s fine.” Zack tilted his head at the wooden wagon. “I mean…it’s not like I could collect anything _better_ while I was fending off monsters. There seem to be a lot more of them recently.” He leaned back against the pew behind him. “Or those AVALANCHE guys…what did they want you for, anyway? Are they going to try and come after you again?”

Aerith shook her head. “I don’t think so. I gave them some things to think about, so they probably aren’t going to come back anytime soon. And if they do…well, I don’t just have you anymore, do I?” She looked up at the Angeal monster-copy that was sitting on the beam above their heads.

“I guess so.” Zack frowned. “Angeal…I’d like to say he was still alive because of this, but…”

Aerith’s expression shifted, and she turned her attention away from the monster and the little wooden wagon. She rested a hand on Zack’s shoulder, smiling slightly. “I think he’s still here, in a way. Even if his soul has passed on to the lifestream. This copy might still be following his will, somehow, and he knows that I’m important to you.”

Zack’s expression shifted in surprise. “I – u-uh, I mean –”

Aerith giggled. “It’s okay, Zack. Really. The cart’s fine for what we need, and we have a friend to help us out, too.” Aerith nodded to the copy.

“And Sephiroth, I bet, if we manage to sneak him down here past whatever crazies apparently live in his fan club.” Zack snorted at the thought. “You should’ve seen the _mob_ he accidentally summoned in Costa del Sol. It was _crazy_ how many people decided to try and crowd in. Sephiroth acted like he’d dealt with it one times too many and asked that we take the _back streets_ instead to avoid them. I get the feeling that we’re lucky it worked. He’s probably had to deal with them for years, though, can you imagine?”

Zack almost laughed, but then he saw the look on Aerith’s face, and the grin on his own faded. “Hey…what’s wrong? It’s not about Sephiroth, is it? I thought we managed to get into your head that he wasn’t going to be doing anything like that monster.”

“I-I know, it’s just…” Aerith frowned. “I’m still worried about what _could_ happen, I guess. The future isn’t set in stone, and while you may be prepared to do everything you can to stand by what _you_ want, there could be other things moving to get what _they_ want out of the world.”

“That’s...kinda how the world works sometimes, though, right?” Zack sat down on a nearby pew. “Genesis wanted to be a hero, but he ended up something a lot worse because of stuff he couldn’t control. Angeal just wanted to serve with honor, and make sure everyone else did to, but it turned out he hadn’t been born in a very honorable way at all.”

Aerith watched with a worried expression as Zack hit the back of the pew. The wood groaned under his fist.

“I don’t know _what_ the world wants with me and Sephiroth, but I’m gonna make sure we come out the other side sane. I’m not going to turn into a monster.”

Zack could feel Aerith staring at him. He didn’t know if he should meet her gaze or not, mostly because he could feel Sephiroth hovering at the edge of his mind, just beyond the mental barrier.

He seemed to be prepared to get Zack’s attention, but he wasn’t about to tear down his walls just yet.

“…I don’t think _you’ll_ become a monster, Zack,” Aerith said carefully. “If…if you go away on a mission for a while, and you’re going with Sephiroth, just….” She trailed off.

Zack looked up at Aerith with a frown. There was a strange look on her face that made him feel a little uneasy.

That look of that kind of focus was _not_ meant to be on a civilian girl.

“The Calamity isn’t dead,” Aerith said. “Not really.”

A chill ran down Zack’s spine, and he dropped his wall enough to send Sephiroth a message. _-Aerith says Jenova isn’t dead? How does that make any sense?-_

“How—”

“She isn’t… _normal,”_ Aerith said carefully. “She’s not from the planet. The planet doesn’t like anything to do with her.”

“So…it doesn’t like Sephiroth?”

Aerith shook her head. “He’s Calamity’s son.”

“It’s not like he _asked_ for that!”

Zack could feel Sephiroth’s presence at the back of his mind, picking up on his emotions, but not entirely what he was saying. Zack pushed some of it at Sephiroth.

_-I did not ask for my current state, no-_

“I know he doesn’t, but the planet doesn’t care. And neither does Jenova.” Aerith shuddered. “She will find a way to finish what she started through him. Somehow.”

“You mean, like…come back from the dead?” Zack felt uneasy at the thought.

_-…I am not a copy of that monster-_

_-Hell no you’re not-_

“I don’t –” Aerith shook her head. “I don’t know everything that she can do. Just the stories Mom told me, before….” She trailed off. “Just promise me that you’ll make sure that he isn’t going to start acting differently suddenly. He could drag you down with him, because of…”

“If he does, I won’t let him,” Zack replied. “And I’ll drag him back from the edge myself if I can. Like _hell_ I’m going to let him get forced into something because of something his dead corpse of a mom wants. However much sense _that_ makes.”

He pushed the same sentiment at Sephiroth, who stirred, but said nothing in response.

“I’ll hold you to that,” Aerith said. “I’ll add it to my pile of wishes.”

“Wishes?” Zack blinked.

“Mhm. I’ve got a lot of them, you know.”

“Really? How many?”

Aerith took a moment to turn away from Zack and count on her fingers for a moment. She tilted back, smiling. “Twenty-three.”

“…that’s a lot of wishes.”

“They’re tiny ones. At least, _I_ think they are.”

“Well, tiny wishes can sometimes turn into big wishes, can’t they?” Zack almost laughed at the pouting frown that crossed Aerith’s face. She was far too cute for her own good.

 _-Please keep such thoughts to yourself-_ Sephiroth admonished.

Whoops, right.

“How about you write them down, so that I don’t forget them?” Zack offered.

Aerith’s expression brightened, and she pulled a piece of paper out of nowhere. “I thought you’d say that.”

“Man, you really thought ahead!” Zack laughed and accepted the slip of paper. “So, do you wanna test out your wagon now? We could go around the slums and test your flower wagon to make sure that people actually buy flowers from it, how about that? Would you be up to it?”

Aerith smiled. “That’d be great! Especially if we can do that right now!”

“Yeah! And we could go up on the plate later!” Zack’s grin almost split his face. There was something about seeing Aerith’s smile that was almost infectious, and he definitely didn’t mind going along with that.

Shoot, he could spend _all day_ down in the slums. Aerith just seemed to light everything up, despite the plate that hung over their heads.

_-Unfortunately, we have other problems to worry about, Zack-_

The grin dropped abruptly into a frown.

Aerith noticed, and her smile became more uncertain. “What is it?”

“I think Sephiroth just said I’ve got a mission.” Zack huffed and looked up at the church’s ceiling, eyeing the Angeal monster that was still perched there. _-What is it this time? More Genesis copies?-_

_-Potentially. All we have been informed is that a group of monsters has been spotted in a village to the north of Junon, and they have forced workers away from the reactor located there-_

Alarm shot through Zack. _-It’s not-- -_

_-It is not Gongaga, no-_

Zack sighed in relief. _-Then where-- -_

_-We are being sent to Nibelheim-_

_-Nibelheim?-_ Zack frowned as he mulled over the word. _-That sounds…kinda familiar-_

 _-You are likely thinking of Modeoheim-_ Sephiroth replied. _-They are similar names-_

_-…maybe. I could’ve sworn there was something else about it. I think I’ve heard the name Nibelheim before-_

_-It’s a backwater village with nothing but a reactor to its name, Zack. I don’t-- -_

Sephiroth’s words were drowned out immediately by a memory springing to Zack’s attention.

_“What kind of mountain boy are you?!”_

_“The best kind.”_

“Holy,” Zack breathed out. _-We’re going to Cloud’s hometown!-_

 _-Cloud?-_ Sephiroth was _definitely_ confused by the statement. _-I can tell that is likely a name, Zack, but that doesn’t inform me of what led you to this conclusion-_

_-Oh, sorry – Cloud’s the name of one of the troopers who was on the mission to Modeoheim with me. He was a SOLDIER hopeful, last I heard, but I haven’t seen him in Midgar since. I asked Kunsel to keep an eye out for him-_

_-…you sound like you appreciate this trooper’s enthusiasm-_ Sephiroth seemed to be confused, still, but there was amusement there, too.

**_-_ ** _Nibelheim has **dragons,** Sephiroth. And he’s not scared of the wolves up there! Shinra’d be stupid to not let him in! If we can find him, we should bring him along – he’d be a really good guide!-_

“Something about your conversation has to be a good thing,” Aerith spoke up. Her voice made Zack jump; right he was still in the church with her. “You’re smiling. Did you remember something good?”

“Just remembering someone,” Zack replied. “It sounds like Sephiroth and I have a mission coming up, and this person I’m remembering could do a pretty good job at helping us if we can snag him. It’s been a while since I’ve seen him, though, so I’m hoping that he’s still around.”

“Having someone from the area sounds like it would be a good idea,” Aerith agreed. She frowned, looking a little sad. “But…that means you have to go, doesn’t it? We won’t be able to test the wagon?”

“I’ll see if I can come back down before I leave,” Zack replied. “I don’t think that it’s going to take _that_ long to get a full debriefing, so I can swing down and pretend I’m getting supplies on the cheap down here before I have to leave. I could probably sneak in an hour or two down here with you and the wagon before we go.”

_-Zack, I know you are planning something. What is it?-_

_-Just figuring we’ve got a bit of time before I have to go on that mission. I’ll come up for a full debriefing, then come down here and hang with Aerith for a bit before we go; sound good?-_

_-…we’ll see. It depends on how much information we’re given-_

Zack grinned. “There, even Sephiroth says I can.”

_-Probably can, Zack. **Probably-**_

“I’ll be looking forward to it!” Aerith smiled. “You’d better get going, then. You don’t want to make them be kept waiting, do you?”

“Probably not.”

 _-Definitely not-_ Sephiroth corrected.

“See you in a bit, kay?” Zack gave a quick wave, then turned and jogged out of the church and off to the train station.

\----

“Legions of monsters have been spawning near a regional mako reactor,” Sephiroth filled Zack in. The debriefing room was quiet except for the two of them, which was probably for the better. Kunsel had sent Zack an email on the way up that said that Heidegger was _not_ doing well with the SOLDIERs. “The workers have all gone missing, and local SOLDIER operatives have also vanished. The company is dispatching us to investigate the matter.”

“Why us?” Zack frowned as he paced across the office floor. “Or, why the _both_ of us? Pretty sure only one of us would be really needed to run in there and finish off the local monsters.” He paused. “Unless they’re super jacked off the mako that’s in the reactor, which…I _guess_ I could see them needing us.”

“There’s something else, too.” Sephiroth was frowning. “The operatives we lost were apparently the ones who had been tracking Lazard when he deserted, before AVALANCHE attacked Junon and took Hollander with them.”

Zack swung around and stared, wide-eyed. “Seriously? Do you think there’s a chance he’s there?”

“He is potentially in the area,” Sephiroth confirmed. “At the same time, there is also a chance they were misled. I find it more likely that Lazard somehow managed to find a way to lose them, then died in the mountains.” When Zack frowned, Sephiroth added, “Lazard is not experienced in surviving cold temperatures, much less scavenging for food and attacking local monsters. If he did find a way to survive in the area around Nibelheim, I doubt that he will be hard to find.”

“Right, right. I remember he had a hard time keeping up with me in Wutai, when we were running from the Genesis copies when they first popped up…so, we’re not only being sent out to check a reactor, but _also_ see if we can recover a body. Sure, I’d be down for that. We could at least get some answers out of him if he’s still alive up there. Like _why the hell did you decide to back a scientist maniac who messed up my mentor?”_

A flicker of a smile crossed Sephiroth’s face. “I have to admit, I have questions for him as well, but you would be more likely to get any answers out of him, if we find him alive.”

_-You have a better way with words than I-_

“Well, maybe, but then I’ll just need you to stand behind me and look like you’re ready to slice him in two,” Zack replied with an easy grin. His expression almost looked feral.

_-We could play good SOLDIER, bad SOLDIER. Sorta like Good Cop, Bad Cop. Except he gets to deal with **two** angry SOLDIERs and no one around to act as some kind calming person-_

_-Hm-_ Sephiroth’s small smile broadened. _-What an idea-_

Sephiroth’s smile vanished a moment later. “I’m going to need you to go down to the SOLDIER floor and get together the men we’re going to need for this. It’s been recommended that we take—”

The door slammed open. “Sephiroth! Zack!”

The two Firsts turned their heads to stare at the Second Class SOLDIER who was standing in the doorway, panting. Something about the way his mouth twisted under the helmet suggested concern, or worry.

“Kunsel?” Zack frowned. “What’s going on?”

“Did you find something….concerning?” Sephiroth watched as Kunsel closed the door behind him, then glanced around the corners of the room at the cameras.

“I don’t know. It might be.” Kunsel crossed the room towards them, keeping his head bent down at a slightly odd angle. “Zack, you remember that trooper you asked me to keep an eye out for? Cloud Strife?”

“Yeah, I – wait, his last name is _Strife?”_ Zack blinked sharply. “How can someone with a fluffy name like that have a _family_ name like that?”

“Perhaps his mother had a sense of humor,” Sephiroth remarked.

“Besides the point,” Kunsel replied sharply. “I went looking for him to see if he was among any of the recent applicants to SOLDIER, and while they have his name on file, they don’t have him listed as having taken any SOLDIER exams recently. It’s like he’s disappeared in all but name.”

A chill ran from one side of the connection to the other, but neither Zack nor Sephiroth knew which side it started on.

“That can’t be right.” Zack frowned. “He wouldn’t up and disappear like that. Cloud looked like _wanted_ to get into SOLDIER, and he definitely had the spunk for it.”

Something dark settled into Sephiroth’s mind, and the way it felt made Zack look at him sharply.

“It’s likely that he caught the attention of someone, in the same manner that he caught yours,” Sephiroth said carefully. “Someone who _also_ thought that he could be useful.”

Zack could feel where Sephiroth’s mind was going, and he shook his head sharply. “If that’s where he’s gone—”

“We won’t know for certain unless we decide to investigate further, and as far as the company is concerned, we won’t have the time to do so in the near future,” Sephiroth replied evenly.

Zack huffed in frustration. “Great. And we’re getting sent to Cloud’s home town, too. What am I supposed to tell his family if they ask if we know about him?”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something,” Kunsel replied. “You’re quick on your feet that way, Zack.”

“Not _that_ quick!”

“You could have sent this information to us by an email,” Sephiroth said with a frown. “Is there something else you’re concerned about?”

“I got a message from Heidegger.” Kunsel tossed his PHS to Sephiroth, who caught it with ease. “He said I’m supposed to go on a monster-exterminating mission to Nibelheim, and that you were coming with me. I remembered Cloud’s profile said that he had been from Nibelheim, and assumed you might want to use him as a guide.”

Zack and Sephiroth exchanged looks. Kunsel’s stance shifted in response.

“What is it that I haven’t been told?” Kunsel’s voice took on a slightly darker, more serious tone.

Sephiroth’s expression shifted as he looked back at Kunsel’s PHS, then handed it back to the Second. “Something tells me this mission is more than just a monster-extermination mission, if _all_ of us are being sent to Nibelheim.”

Zack felt Sephiroth’s thoughts turn in a dark direction and frowned. “Think they want to get rid of us, or…?”

“Because we know too much about something,” Kunsel guessed.

“I’m not certain.” Sephiroth’s gaze flicked between the two of them before settling on Zack. “We should use this as cover.”

Zack’s eyes widened. “You mean—but what about Aerith?”

“Aerith?” Kunsel tilted his head. “Who is this, a girlfriend, Zack?”

Zack spluttered loudly. A flicker of amusement crossed Sephiroth’s face.

“We should speak to the Turks and ensure that they make sure that no harm will come to her while we are gone,” Sephiroth said. “And that they will get her out of the city, if need be.”

“Why?” Kunsel paused when he saw Zack and Sephiroth exchange looks. “Nevermind; don’t tell me. I know how to talk to them. Just let me know when we’re going to leave and how much time we have.”

“I believe they want us on the move as soon as possible.”

“Then I’ll leave five minutes ago. I’ve got a few favors I can call in.” Kunsel grinned.

“The Turks already know who Aerith is,” Zack said. “So they’ll probably know a lot more about her than you do.”

“Really? That’s interesting. I’ll keep that in mind. Anything you want me to tell them?”

“Keep her away from Hojo,” Sephiroth replied. “If she were to fall to Shinra…”

Zack could almost see Kunsel’s eyebrows shooting to the top of his head. “Oof. Okay, I’ll pass that along. I’ll be at our ride as soon as I can.”

Kunsel dashed out of the briefing room like his life depended on it, slamming the door shut behind him as he went.

“I would suggest contacting Aerith,” Sephiroth said. “You will not have enough time to go back down to the slums, unfortunately.”

“Unfortunately…yeah.” Zack sighed. “Why does Shinra have to mess up _everything?”_

“That, I think, is a question that would go straight to the director’s board,” Sephiroth replied. “Let’s go prepare ourselves for the mission to come. Even if it does go well, I doubt that we will be returning to Shinra.”

“Yeah…no kidding.”

\----

The last person Veld had been expecting to see in his office was a SOLDIER Second Class, with his helmet on, accompanied by Cissnei, how looked somewhat concerned.

“Sir, he’s calling them in,” Cissnei said. “All of them.”

Veld didn’t need to ask what Cissnei meant. “What kind of rumor are you spreading that would need all the Turks you have ever interacted with, SOLDIER Kunsel? You do realize that I cannot give you all of them at once.”

“I know we had an arrangement when I arrived,” Kunsel replied. “Information for information, right? Well, I’m asking something a little different this time, for a couple friends of mine.”

Veld inclined his head. “These must be important friends, then.”

“Very important,” Kunsel agreed. “They said you know about someone named Aerith?”

Cissnei stiffened next to Kunsel. Veld was a lot more careful in his reactions, merely raising an eyebrow.

He heard shifting outside of the office. Clearly, Cissnei wasn’t the _only_ person who was listening to this conversation.

“If I was aware of someone with that name, why would you come to us with a favor involving this person and your friends?” Veld asked evenly.

“Because they want to keep her as far away from Hojo as possible,” Kunsel replied.

 _That_ made Veld’s other eyebrow rise. “Continue, Rumor.”

Kunsel nodded. “I’m going on a mission to Nibelheim with some other SOLDIERs. They think there’s a chance we may not be meant to come back. They said you know about Aerith already, and that they’ve been interacting with her. Double your guard over her if they don’t come back, and get her and whatever family she has out of the city if you have to. Just make sure that Hojo _never_ gets his hands on her.”

“And you are desperate enough to compile all your uncalled favors on this.”

“I would rather do that than find out what might happen if Zack comes back and finds her gone,” Kunsel replied.

Veld saw Cissnei twitch. “You do realize, that with AVALANCHE currently making itself known, we will be spreading ourselves thin.”

“Just do what you can. Please.”

“I will see what I can do.” Veld inclined his head. “I assume that this mission of yours is going to be coming up soon?”

“I probably should have been with the transports five minutes ago, sir.”

“Then go. Don’t worry about Aerith; she will be kept safe."

Kunsel nodded, then turned and ran out of Veld’s office, and past the crowd of Turks who were pretending they hadn’t been listening in.

“Tseng,” Veld called. “Make sure that the Ancient has eyes on her at all times from now on. I don’t care how many of us are demanded to go out and track AVALANCHE’s movements, keep someone on her at all times.”

Tseng appeared in the doorway, separating himself from the crowd of suits. “You don’t need to tell me that, Director. Although, are we _really_ letting a SOLDIER call in these favors for _this?_ Rumor is merely meant to spread rumors to control the rest of Shinra, I don’t—“

“Rumor is not an official Turk, and as a result has a few more freedoms than you do,” Veld replied. “That is how it has always been for people who have taken that title. Kunsel is not the first, and if we are lucky, he won’t be the last.”

“If we’re lucky?” Cissnei repeated.

“With Genesis having caused a schism in SOLDIER, as well as AVALANCHE’s recent movements…” Veld frowned at all of them.

The Turks gathered outside of his office door seemed to get the message.

“No issues from me, sir.” Balto gave Veld a loose salute and a nod. “I’ll make sure Zack’s girlfriend is safe by myself if I have to.”

“Don’t push yourself,” Veld replied. “I may need you to take on Elfe.”

“No promises, boss.” Balto grinned easily and walked out of sight.

“Tseng.” Veld nodded for him to go after Balto.

“Right.” Tseng nodded and disappeared.

“Whoever is going on the Nibelheim mission should also prepare to move,” Veld added, raising his voice slightly. “Hojo has a vested interest in this mission, and we should make sure that it goes well. The rest of you – _get back to work.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what did you all think of what I've done with Kunsel? I felt it fitting, considering what he does in the game and what people across the fandom see him as.
> 
> Nibelheim will take a bit to get to, but you can count on *most* of the remaining chapters falling into that setting in particular. We're going to be spending a lot of time in that little mountain town....


	26. Setting the Stage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter-than-average chapter today! Hope you guys don't mind too much, especially since a number of things happen here to help set the stage.

“Yeah, sorry, Aerith. Looks like you’ll have to take the flower wagon out for a spin without me.” Zack winced. “I didn’t want to leave as fast as we had to, but…well, it’s a pretty important mission. Sorry.”

There was a sigh on the other end of the PHS. _::No, it’s okay. I get it, Zack. Really. But I’m not going to test out the flower wagon until you get back, okay? It’s our wagon, after all::_

“You don’t have to – I mean, you’ve still got the – that friend that hides in the roof, right? You could take him with you and test out the wagon.”

_::Maybe, but it wouldn’t be the same without you, Zack. I’ll just carry a basket around and start spreading flowers that way, and we’ll use the wagon when you get back, okay?::_

Zack jolted as the truck he was riding went over a bump in the road. “Y-yeah, sure. I don’t know when I’m going to be back, though. This mission’s happening somewhere far away from Midgar.”

_::Well then, I’ll just have to make sure that I don’t change between now and when you get back::_

“You don’t need to sound so serious about it. Besides, you could do something different, and I wouldn’t mind it too much.” Zack paused. “How about…you wear pink until I get back? I think you’d look good in it.”

_::Pink? I dunno….::_

“Please? Just humor me.”

Aerith was quiet for long enough that Zack had to pull the PHS away from his ear for a second to make sure they hadn’t lost the connection. They hadn’t, which was good, and Aerith’s sigh after Zack checked made him smile a little.

_::All right, I’ll find something. But only until you get back, which means you’re only gonna see it for the day I’m wearing it!::_

“Sounds good to me,” Zack replied. “I’ll see you when I get back, okay? And don’t be afraid to text me. I dunno if I’ll get to them all right away or not, but I’ll respond when I can.”

_::Sounds good. And if you don’t, I’ll start sending letters!::_

Zack laughed. “Letters, huh? Can’t say I’ve gotten any of those from a girl before. I’ll look forward to them!”

_::You’d better write back, if you can’t call me!::_

“I will, I will. I’m not gonna leave you hanging like that.”

_::Good. I’m going to hang up now, because I’m going to go start selling flowers, okay? I expect you to call me when you get to where you’re going, if you can::_

“If I can, yeah. I’ll probably get some pretty bad reception up there.”

_::Well, if you do, then **write** ::_

“Okay, okay! Sheesh, Aerith, you’re really scary sometimes.”

Aerith laughed. _::Bye, Zack. Talk to you soon?::_

“Yeah.”

Zack waited for Aerith to hang up on her side, then closed his PHS and put it away.

“You sound pretty close,” Kunsel remarked from across the transport. “Especially since you haven’t known her for that long.”

“Aerith’s just a really nice person; how could I _not_ get along with her?” Zack replied. The truck went over another bump in the road. “We’re _seriously_ not taking a helicopter up this time? Pretty sure that’d be faster than riding in a caravan all the way across the continent.”

“The Nibel mountain range is treacherous to flying transports,” Sephiroth replied from his seat next to Zack. “If anything, bringing a helicopter or plane with us would only cause _another_ crash, like in Modeoheim. I doubt that Shinra is that willing to allow resources to be destroyed, when they are also intent on watching AVALANCHE and ensuring their plans do not go far.”

“Which just makes this even more suspicious.” Kunsel rested his chin in one hand, and his elbow on one knee. “You two aren’t the _only_ Firsts we have, but you’re pretty much the _strongest_ ones we have. Most of the things the Seconds talk about are what they’re going to do in order to get as strong as Zack and Sephiroth. The company is divided between the two of you, but more of them have been wanting to be like Zack recently.”

Zack pointed at himself. “Like me? Seriously?”

“Indeed.” Kunsel smirked.

“You have been…extremely visible,” Sephiroth remarked. “And you are not required to attend _all_ the social functions I have been. I wouldn’t be surprised if they saw me more as a figurehead to follow blindly.”

“Hey, now, don’t sell yourself short!” Zack elbowed Sephiroth. “No way are you just someone that needs to look pretty to attract attention. You’ve got more than enough strength for that.”

“You know that, and I am more than aware of that, but how many Thirds and Seconds think of me when they hear the name of SOLDIER?” Sephiroth raised an eyebrow.

“They still do,” Kunsel offered. “Just…not as much. Zack’s personality has been getting him as much attention, if not more, than your appearance.” He paused. “At the very least, you’re not as aloof as some people think you are. Or how you used to be. I think spending time with Zack has made you a bit more approachable.”

“Really?” Zack frowned. “How does that make any sense?”

_-I would not be surprised if our telepathic interactions have resulted in some of our personalities bleeding into each other-_

“Generally, if you have someone as a friend, their quirks start to become yours to a certain extent,” Kunsel said. “We’re shaped by the people we spend time with, after all, and we spend time with our friends the most.”

“…huh.” Zack leaned back against the truck wall behind him, tilting his head. “Never thought of it that way.”

_-I should’ve figured on the mental thing. Guess our walls aren’t as good as we thought-_

_-They are good enough-_

_-Are they, though?-_

Sephiroth’s expression shifted slightly. “I should hope that this will not be the _only_ subject we will be discussing until we reach our destination.”

“Social nuances aren’t interesting to you?” Kunsel guessed. “Or is it everything to do with Shinra that is upsetting?”

“Shinra has been moving in an upsetting direction for some time,” Sephiroth replied. “But we don’t have as much information as I would like concerning what is…” He paused, looking at Zack.

_-You trust him as a friend. How much information are you willing to give him?-_

Zack blinked sharply.

“If you have secrets you want to keep, that’s fine.” Kunsel extended his hands. “When we get back to Shinra, I find it pretty likely that I’ll find out what it is sooner or later, depending on what you continue asking me to dig up.”

 _-He’s got a point-_ Zack shrugged one shoulder.

Sephiroth frowned.

 _-Just the Jenova stuff. He doesn’t need to know about what’s going on in our heads just yet-_ Zack grinned reassuringly and turned back to Kunsel. “It’s just – we know a lot about something that could go horribly wrong, is all.”

Kunsel inclined his head. “We’ve already had Genesis and Angeal desert and be reported dead. How much worse could it get?”

“…you ever hear about the thing that took out the Ancients?”

\----

Considering what Kunsel was being _told,_ he took the whole thing rather well. Jenova, what SOLDIERs had been injected with, and what they knew about Sephiroth being “Calamity’s son,” as grim as Aerith’s words had been.

They didn’t tell him where they’d gotten all that information, though. Some things were better left secret, even if Kunsel probably had a smart enough head on his shoulders to figure out that Aerith had been the one to tell them.

“So, _that’s_ the ‘extra’ thing that we get injected with along with the mako.” Kunsel sounded thoughtful and grim. “I didn’t think it was an _alien._ Does that make all of us Calamity’s kids, then?”

“Not as much as Sephiroth, I don’t think.” Zack glanced at Sephiroth, who bowed his head slightly. “But yeah, we’ve got bits of her floating around.” He shuddered.

“I can guess why they wouldn’t want people to know about that.” Kunsel nodded. “How did you come across it?”

“Hojo let it slip once in front of me.” Zack frowned. “It’s…kinda weird that he _did,_ actually.”

“Oh?”

“After Angeal and Genesis deserted, I took over mentoring Zack until he reached First,” Sephiroth explained. Zack shut his mouth, having been about to spin something else. “He should have realized that some things are no longer kept secret between us.”

“…that’s a weird way of wording it.” Kunsel was probably frowning under his helmet. “Maybe he did it on purpose, in order to see your reaction?”

“Maybe.”

“As he told me my _mother_ was named Jenova, he likely saw it as a part of an experiment to test my mental strain.” Sephiroth frowned. “Unless he is waiting for a _different_ sort of reaction from me.”

_-You mean…like, seeing if you’ll start doing what the Calamity did?-_

_-Perhaps. He cares far less for human lives than some might be led to believe-_

Zack felt a little sick at the revelation. Not that he _hadn’t_ known, but actually hearing it from Sephiroth had a grim finality to it.

_-…we need to get him out of his lab and with his head on a pike before anyone can say “mako”-_

Sephiroth’s mouth quirked up in a smirk for a moment, but then it was gone. “You can understand why we would want to keep this between us.”

“Certainly.” Kunsel held up his hands. “I won’t tell a soul unless you tell me to. You are the Silver General, after all, _and_ his right-hand man.”

“Are people _really_ saying that?” Zack stared at Kunsel, wide-eyed.

“Some. Not everybody, but it sounds like that’s the most common thread of rumors right now.” Kunsel grinned, but that dropped after a moment. “But that’s besides the point we’re discussing. I’m assuming that you’re planning to abandon Shinra at some point, because of everything that you’ve managed to discover.”

“I would not call it abandoning,” Sephiroth said carefully. When Zack and Kunsel both shot him looks, he continued, “I would call it a tactical retreat for our own safety, from the corrupted forces that currently exist within Shinra. It would be far better to exist outside of their reach than attempt to change Shinra from the inside, only to be corrupted in the process by whatever Hojo expects to result from his experimentation.”

Kunsel winced. “Yeah, I can see that. Are you expecting me to do the same after all this? Because I for one am not so inclined to leave – not when some people are going to need a man on the inside to collect the information they’re not going to be able to get.”

Zack leaned forward. “You mean—”

“Did you really think I was going to _stop_ helping you after you told me all this?” Kunsel grinned again. “No way. I knew Shinra was as corrupt as hell even _before_ Genesis up and vanished. It’s just decided to only come to light now, of all times. If they decided that they wanted to turn the two of you into who _knows_ what, I think that my time of sitting back and absorbing rumors and information is about to come to an end. If you decide you want to stay out of Shinra once this mission is over, I’ll cover up your existence and make sure you still get the information you need. I swear on my well-constructed rumor mill.”

Zack burst out laughing. “Of course you would. Man, Kunsel, I’m glad we’ve got you on our side. I dunno _what_ could happen if we didn’t have you in the loop.”

“You probably wouldn’t have been able to get things to go your way, that’s for sure.”

Sephiroth hummed in quiet amusement. “We can use you to keep an eye on Aerith, as well, if the Turks aren’t able to remove her from Midgar.”

“You certainly could.” Kunsel nodded. “She sounds like she’s someone important to Shinra somehow, if the Turks already knew about her.”

“That’s one way to put it.” Zack rubbed the back of his head and laughed. “I hope she’ll forgive me if I don’t come back. I don’t want to leave her hanging!”

“I’ll make sure you don’t!”

\----

Hojo’s off-base lab was still whole and functional, despite almost two decades of abandonment. It delighted him that the locals had left his work untouched and undamaged.

Not that they would have been _able_ to break into the subterranean facilities, at least. He had been very wise in having the security setup he did.

He checked over the four mako tanks again himself, not trusting the assistants to do anything with the constant flow that he wanted. Three of the figures within twitched and shifted in unison, which he took to be an _especially_ good sign.

“Good, good. A deep connection will insure that I won’t have to deal with any bothersome personality traits that I have no want or need of.” Hojo nodded in satisfaction, then frowned at the fourth. _“You,_ however. You haven’t responded to anything from those three.”

He tapped the glass, frowning at the former SOLDIER hopeful who was floating inside.

“Are you speaking with Jenova?” Hojo asked quietly. “Is that why you aren’t merging your mental state with them? You’ve already succumbed to Reunion?”

That would mean that it could be possible to use him to reach Jenova’s control further, reach out to those with high concentration of Jenova cells…or S-Cells.

Hojo grinned to himself. Soon, Sephiroth and his entourage would be in range of Nibelheim. He was going to have to make sure that he was out of sight, before they arrived.

“I look forward to watching the proceedings from a safe distance,” Hojo hummed to himself. “I look forward to seeing what will result. _Reunion.”_

He chuckled to himself, then retreated out of the basement lab.

He just missed seeing Specimen C twitch in his mako tank, glowing eyes unfocused on nothing.

_-Z-Zack…?-_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have mentioned a couple times now that Hojo has *four* tanks. Now we know what the other three are being used for. :3
> 
> Next week, we enter Nibelheim!


	27. Not Quite Home Sweet Home

“Zack? Are you feeling all right?”

Zack, jamming his thumb into his temple, looked up at Kunsel. “Eh? Y-yeah, I’m…I’m fine. Just feeling a little woozy, is all. Must be the mountain air.”

“You handled the ‘mountain air’ in Modeoheim like this, too?” Kunsel was probably frowning under his helmet.

“Ah…no? I don’t think so?” Zack frowned. The truck went over a rather nasty bump on the steep, uphill road. “Must be something in Nibelheim, then….”

“…Zack. You and Sephiroth are the _only_ ones who look woozy. If _I_ can handle this cold mountain air, you should be able to, no problem.”

Zack blinked, expression a bit blank, then turned to look at Sephiroth. _-Really?-_

The thought felt sluggish, like he was thinking through a haze. Everything felt like that, actually.

Sephiroth, who was _also_ resting his forehead in one hand, glanced at Zack and nodded slightly. _-I have…reason to suspect…that this is a mental attack of some kind-_

“But why only us?” Zack muttered. “That doesn’t…that doesn’t make any sense.” He shifted his hand away from his temple and over his forehead. “’ts like there’s a hazy fog in my brain….”

“A hazy fog?” Kunsel frowned. “That…that doesn’t sound like anything that a monster can do. None that I’m familiar with, at least. Did Cloud mention anything to you about what monsters live around here, Zack?”

It was a long, hazy-thought moment before Zack could offer a response. “…dragons?”

“I doubt this is a mental attack from dragons,” Sephiroth said. _-Zack, help me block it out-_

 _-…yeah, okay-_ Zack closed his eyes and breathed in as he focused inward.

The mental fog was weird. It… _felt_ green, which was a weird feeling to have hovering around their brains. How does a person even _feel_ green? It made sense to feel green when you were actually _sick,_ but this was something different.

Something weird.

Pushing the fog out of their mental space was a chore in and of itself. It tried to stay in Zack’s mind, but then Sephiroth stepped in and nudged it out carefully. Still, it felt like a piece remained behind.

_-…ack…-_

Zack frowned. ­ _-What was-- -_

A tendril of the weird green feeling remained, anchored solid despite the nudging.

“It seems we can block the influence of this mental attack,” Sephiroth remarked. “For the most part.”

“Really?” Kunsel looked between them. “How? I didn’t see any materia going off.”

“We are relying on what is already here, not what we can rely on using magic.” Sephiroth tapped the side of his head and glanced at Zack. _-Although, it is still here-_

_-Yeah-_

“Huh. Well, I’m glad you did, because it looked like you were dealing with a minor case of mako poisoning.” Kunsel took the next bump in the road in stride. “You looked unfocused.”

“Mako poisoning?” Zack leaned back. “But – how does _that_ make any sense?! I’m not mako sensitive, and _Sephiroth_ definitely isn’t. How could we be affected by something like that?” He paused. “There isn’t mako in the air, is there?”

“From the reactor? There shouldn’t be. We would have heard something about it.” Kunsel tilted his head slightly. “Although, if the monsters are becoming more dangerous in the area, they could be feeding off the radiation from the reactor. But then, we might have heard about the townsfolk being affected, and they wouldn’t have let us bring along troopers.” He motioned to the metal wall that separated them from the driver’s cabin.

“This must be something else that’s affecting us.” Sephiroth’s expression darkened. His gaze moved to Zack. ­ _-We will have to keep the barrier up around us in order to prevent this from invading again. Blocking each other off and dealing with this separately won’t be useful to either one of us-_

_-Right. Hope this doesn’t knock us in sync-_

_-Hm-_

“Keep your guard up, both of you,” Sephiroth said aloud. “I am not about to go back to Shinra with the rest of you comatose.”

“Y-yeah, that’d be pretty bad,” Zack agreed quickly. “We’ll fight this off and be back to normal before it takes us out.” He grinned widely. “I don’t wanna feel what mako poisoning’s like, that’s for sure.”

“It would be detrimental to all of us.”

Kunsel turned his head slightly, looking back and forth between them. Zack could almost feel his gaze digging into Zack’s head, like that would be able to dig up _something_ that Zack wasn’t telling him.

_-I would rather he did not find out what we are capable of-_

_-I know. But something tells me he’s gonna find out sooner or later – and if **we** don’t tell him, he’s gonna put two and two together before we feel up to telling him-_

_-…Za…-_

Zack blinked sharply and looked at Sephiroth. _-Did you just-- -_

 _-That was **not** me-_ Sephiroth’s expression darkened as the truck came to a stuttering stop.

“Sirs!” one of the troopers called from the driver’s cabin. “We’ve arrived in Nibelheim. We’ll go make sure the local inn has rooms prepared for you.”

“Thanks,” Kunsel called back. “We’ll have a look around town. What time is it?”

“It’s late afternoon, Second Kunsel, sir!”

“Then we’re probably going to stay in town today and go up to the reactor tomorrow. The report said it was a fair distance up a mountain.” Kunsel turned his attention to Sephiroth and Zack, who exchanged looks before looking back at him. “We can take the time to get fully adjusted to the thin mountain air up here.”

“…sounds like a good idea to me,” Zack offered.

“If only for the non-enhanced,” Sephiroth replied. He rose to his feet. “Let us see what Nibelheim has to offer.”

Kunsel got out of the truck first. Zack watched him take a deep breath as he and Sephiroth followed.

“Getting a taste of the mountain air?” Zack jumped out of the truck, then stumbled. “Whoa! Looks like I lost my land legs for a second there.” He laughed and pushed back on the hazy feeling that was trying to seep in through the mental wall. “Making that climb up to the reactor probably would be a bad idea for today. Good call, Kunsel.”

“A long ride like that is always disorienting,” Kunsel replied. “Makes sense that we’d need to recuperate before we could go up.” He turned his attention to the large gate that stood over the road leading into town. “Let’s hope that the people living here are a bit more friendly than the mountainous terrain.”

Zack rubbed the back of his head. “I bet we can get something nice out of them. Maybe if I mention Cloud when things go south, they’ll know we’re friends.”

“I would suggest holding off on such statements,” Sephiroth replied. “Considering that he has been missing for some time, mentioning him now and not telling them where he is might not be taken well.”

“Oh, yeah…got a point there.”

Kunsel nodded in agreement as the troopers stepped out of the truck and joined them. “We got a room?”

“Sir!” one of the troopers saluted, but then faltered when Kunsel waved a hand at him.

“At ease, I’m not _that_ uptight. Let’s go inspect that hotel.” Kunsel led the troopers away and nodded back to Zack and Sephiroth. The knowing smirk on his face made Zack snort and shake his head.

“Guess that means we can have a look around town, if we’re up to it.” Zack raised an eyebrow at Sephiroth. “You wanna have a look around at Cloud’s hometown?”

“His hometown….” Sephiroth trailed off, frowning. “Hm. I wonder what it’s like, having a place to call such a thing. How a person could feel when you return to such a place.”

Zack blinked at the comment. “You…what, do you have a place?”

“The only place I can call such a thing is Shinra,” Sephiroth replied. _-And I can say fairly that the tower is becoming less and less of a “home” to me than it ever was-_

Zack winced. “Oof, right. Well, I could tell you how I feel when I think about Gongaga, but I dunno how you’d feel about that.”

_-Could probably make you feel it, too, but I dunno how well that’d go over if we ever **went** to Gongaga-_

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at Zack’s offer. _-I would rather not carry your feelings in my mind everywhere I went-_

 _-Yeah, that’s fair-_ Zack motioned for Sephiroth to follow him. “You wanna have a look around and get to know the locals? It’ll be a good distraction from that hazy fog that’s been trying to get in.”

_-…iroth…?-_

Sephiroth stiffened at the hazy voice at the back of their minds. “Yes, a distraction would be wise.”

Zack nodded and motioned for Sephiroth to follow him, then walked through the town gate after Kunsel and the troopers.

The town was, overall, pretty small. A few homes, a shop, a hotel, and a water tower in the middle of town. A few people standing nearby looked at them with guarded expressions as they moved past.

_-Not as friendly as Gongaga-_

_-This is a harsh climate to live in. I can only assume that the people here learned to be harsh in order to survive it-_

_-…well, that explains some of the things Cloud said in Modeoheim-_

“I kinda like the feel for the place,” Zack remarked aloud. “It’s not _quite_ homey, but it’s small, kinda like Gongaga. Everybody knows everybody around here, probably. I bet Kunsel would find the rumor mill up here _fantastic.”_

“Are you suggesting that he start a few rumors of his own?” Sephiroth raised an eyebrow.

“I sure hope he doesn’t, but I bet that he’ll like to hear at least some of ‘em.” Zack put his hands behind his head and leaned back looking up at the water tower. _-And I bet we can learn something about Cloud and what everyone around here thinks of Shinra, too-_

_-Why the interest in the cadet?-_

_-Well, this is his home, isn’t it? I only got to meet him the once, but I liked what I saw in him. I wanna see if everyone else liked what they saw in him, too-_

“Hm.” Sephiroth followed Zack’s gaze to the water tower, then moved his gaze to the buildings.

“Excuse me?”

Sephiroth turned his head at the voice and blinked as a dark-haired man approached. The man hesitated when he met the cat-green eyes, then steeled himself.

“I assume that you are from Shinra?” the man asked. He held out a hand. “Brian Lockhart. I’m the mayor of Nibelheim.”

Zack decided to jump in before Sephiroth could say anything. “Hi! Zack Fair, SOLDIER First Class. And this is Sephiroth, obviously. It’s nice to meet you!”

Lockhart looked surprised at the sudden introduction, but he composed himself quickly. “Y-yes, likewise. It’s not often we have SOLDIERs make their way this far north.”

A slight feeling of discontent and confusion settled in the hazy part at the back of Zack’s mind. He did his best to ignore it.

“Could you tell me why you and your men have come up to Nibelheim? We haven’t had much trouble other than the usual recently.”

“We were informed that there were a large number of monsters that appeared around the reactor here,” Sephiroth replied evenly. Was it Zack’s imagination, or was one of his eyes twitching a little? He wasn’t picking up anything that suggested Sephiroth was annoyed. “Are you telling me you didn’t notice?”

“Well, we just assumed they were more eager to breed than usual,” Lockhart replied. “They sometimes cycle through times of high numbers and low numbers, controlled by the amount of prey that’s available. Some of us figured that they were just a bit more fertile this year.” His expression hardened. “So, you’re here to take care of ‘em?”

“And inspect the reactor,” Sephiroth replied.

“Ah. Well, you can do what you want with the reactor. We didn’t rely on it as much as you city folk. If the entire thing gets blown to bits, we wouldn’t be hurt too much.”

Zack blinked. “Man, you guys aren’t too attached to it, are you?”

_-…nev…were….-_

There was that voice again. It sounded a little clearer, actually, and it was tickling something familiar.

Zack blinked a couple times, then shook his head. “You guys may not be interested in the reactor, but some people are in the area. We’re just gonna make sure everything’s okay up there and be out of your hair in a couple days, is all. I don’t see it anywhere near here, so…I’m guessing it’s up the mountain?”

Something shuddered in the haze at the back of his mind. He flinched slightly in response to it.

“That’s right.” Lockhart nodded curtly. “It’s high up Mt. Nibel. You’ll be needing a guide up the mountain paths in order to reach it safely.”

“If you’re here for the monsters, might as well go by that old mansion that has Shinra all over it.”

The hazy feeling at the back of their heads _spiked_ at the woman’s voice, and Zack turned to see a blond woman standing a short distance away from them.

“That building has always been running amok with monsters,” she added. “It’s dangerous for little girls who want to go exploring.” She glared at Lockhart.

“Or _little boys_ who don’t know to leave well enough alone,” Lockhart snapped.

Sephiroth winced and almost raised a hand to his head.

The woman huffed. “I’d recommend keeping your nose out of my son’s business, _Brian._ Just because he isn’t here anymore doesn’t mean I can’t be worried about things that could endanger him or your daughter. She is equally reckless, you know.”

Lockhart huffed. “ _I_ would recommend that you don’t tell our town’s guests what to do, _Strife._ Or do you think that just because your son _left_ to join them that you can order them around?”

Zack’s eyes widened. _-Strife?! Then that’s-- -_

_-M…mom?-_

Zack blinked sharply and looked to Sephiroth. The cat eyes were having a _very hard time_ hiding the surprise and shock that the strange, third, hazy voice was carrying over.

_-What was…Cloud? Is that you?-_

The hazy feeling increased, and if there was _any_ sense of thought coming from the other side, it was wiped out by the noise.

“…I wasn’t aware that Shinra owned a mansion this far north,” Sephiroth said carefully. His voice sounded somewhat strained, like he didn’t want to sound distant.

“Really? Well, I’m glad that I brought it up, then!” Strife’s mother sounded quite proud of that. “Claudia Strife, a pleasure to meet you boys. If you could come by my home later, I’d appreciate a little news from Midgar. My potential source of news has been _quite_ dry as of late.”

Zack rubbed at his temple as the hazy fog attempted to make him woozy again, like he had been on the truck. _-No, no, back, back into your own mindspace with you. You’re not getting in here. I know I like spending time with people, but I really don’t need you getting in here without my permission-_

“We will keep your invitation in mind,” Sephiroth replied evenly. “For now, we should discuss some things with Second Kunsel before we make any further plans.”

“Y-yeah, sounds good.” Zack nodded. “We’ll, uh…see you around then, m-ma’am, sir.” He gave them a quick nod and turned in a random direction to walk off in.

Sephiroth grabbed his shoulder and steered him in the direction of the hotel. One of the troopers was standing on the porch, looking around with one of those ridiculous helmets on his head.

 _-Infantry Trooper Cloud Strife?-_ Sephiroth demanded harshly.

_-…iroth….-_

_-He doesn’t sound like he’s in range-_ Zack frowned. _-Is he reaching us all the way from Midgar?-_

_-Doubtful. We would have noticed him while we were still there-_

_-…where…-_

Zack tried to ignore the flare of fog at the back of his head. It was starting to get harder to do that.

Sephiroth’s expression shifted as a feeling of dread settled in him. _-It seems we will **have** to inform Kunsel of this, if Strife’s presence is what is causing us trouble-_

_-…sorry…-_

Zack winced as the hazy fog tried to settle into his mind again. He pushed it back carefully. _-Stay back there, Cloud. Stop spilling over into me-_

_-….-_

“Talking to him will only encourage him,” Sephiroth muttered. “I would recommend blocking him off for now.”

“But he’s—”

“He may _sound_ like the Cloud you are familiar with, but I refuse to believe that it _is_ him.” Sephiroth stepped past the trooper with a short nod and started up the stairs to the hotel’s second floor, not offering the receptionist so much as a glance. He didn’t start speaking again until they were in the hallway on the second floor. “Until we have physical proof, I would recommend blocking him out as much as possible, as I am.”

“But—”

Kunsel stuck his head out of one of the rooms. “Finished your patrol of the town already?” His mouth dropped into a frown a moment later. “That mako poisoning effect is still in your heads, isn’t it?”

“We’re wondering if it’s something else now,” Zack replied. Sephiroth shot him a look, which Zack shorted at. “What? I _know_ you’re wondering about it. You don’t have to say it anymore.”

“I would appreciate it if you did not read what I was thinking and say the results aloud,” Sephiroth replied evenly.

Zack could feel Kunsel’s gaze boring into the side of his head. He didn’t need to ask to know that Kunsel was asking questions at the back of his head.

“We’ve, uh…we’ve got something going on,” Zack said sheepishly. “You’re gonna want to sit down for this, unless you’ve got an idea about what’s going on already.”

“I think I’ve got a few guesses, but you’re probably right.” Kunsel opened the door further and motioned for them to step inside. “We had to take two rooms; we get one of them, the troopers get the other one. We shouldn’t get interrupted by one of them walking in looking for something they packed.”

“Good.” Sephiroth stepped inside, Zack following after as Kunsel closed the door behind them. “This is not something that we wish to discuss with everyone in town, Kunsel.”

“I kinda figured, since what’s probably going on right now is _not_ an open secret in Shinra.” Kunsel sat down on one of the three beds. “So, what is it that you need to tell me?”

Sephiroth looked at Zack. _-He’s **your** friend-_

 _-May as well be yours, too-_ Zack sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Okay, so…turns out we’re kinda…telepathically connected? I guess? Hojo did something before everything went downhill, and we’ve been able to talk to each other up here ever since.” He tapped the side of his head.

Kunsel said nothing. He just sat on the bed, elbows rested on his knees and his hands folded in front of him. Zack couldn’t see Kunsel’s mouth from the angle he was standing, which only made any attempt to _read_ him more frustrating.

“You had suspicions, didn’t you.” Sephiroth’s question definitely didn’t sound like one.

“Some, but I can’t say I was entirely expecting a mental connection. I knew Hojo had taken an interest in Zack, though, _despite_ my warnings.” Kunsel’s head dipped down a little as his shoulders rose tensely.

“You started warning me _after_ this started.” Zack shrugged, looking sheepish. “Sorry, Kuns.”

Kunsel waved a hand. “No, no, it’s…to be expected, I guess. My information on Hojo tends to be somewhat outdated, more often than not. And there are some secrets of his that I’m probably never going to learn, unless I break into his labs and have a look myself.”

“Good luck with that,” Sephiroth said dryly.

Kunsel snorted. “I’m not _that_ stupid.” He motioned to the bed across from his. “Why are you telling me this now?”

Zack took the unspoken invitation and sat down on the other bed. Sephiroth hesitated before following suit. “Well, remember that mako poisoning comment you made when we were going up the mountain? I think Hojo found a way to add somebody else to what Seph and I have got going on.”

“Or, it could be merely an attack from a monster in the area,” Sephiroth said. “And it is choosing to focus on us because we are more of a threat than Second Class Kunsel.”

“I’m not sure if I should take that as a compliment,” Kunsel remarked. He shook his head. “I haven’t heard anything about a monster being able to attack your mind from a distance like this, much less recreate mako poisoning symptoms. That doesn’t seem right to me.”

“We have been hearing someone else talk in the haze sometimes,” Zack added. He sent Sephiroth a pointed look. “I mean, _whoever_ they are knows where _we_ are. It reacted to Mrs. Strife out there, remember? Called her _mom?”_

“I still have doubts on your theory that it is Cloud Strife,” Sephiroth replied. “Especially considering that you have only had one opportunity to meet and speak with him.”

“I’m telling you, it’s him! Sure, he doesn’t sound like he’s quite all there for some reason, and the fog gets stronger whenever he tries to talk, but it’s gotta be him! And since we didn’t pick up on him in Midgar, he’s _gotta_ be nearby. He’s gotta!”

“I find it highly doubtful that he could be nearby,” Sephiroth replied evenly. “Even if his mother mentioned monsters living in the mansion owned _by_ Shinra that is outside of town, they have abandoned the structure.”

“A _mansion?”_ Kunsel tilted his head. “That’s very interesting…do you mind if I go have a look around the place tonight, before we go up to the reactor tomorrow? We might find something of interest there. _Especially_ if Shinra’s seemingly abandoned it to rot up in this mountain town.”

“Seemingly?” Zack frowned. “What do you—”

“Shinra doesn’t abandon anything unless it’s useless to them, and even then, they make sure that everything is destroyed, first.” Kunsel waved a hand to the mountain outside. “There must be something in that mansion that got left behind that could be useful to us, otherwise they probably would have burned the mansion down when they left.”

Zack and Sephiroth exchanged looks.

 _-He does speak the truth-_ Sephiroth’s eyes narrowed slightly. _-I do not know a Shinra that would willingly abandon something they created, for fear of someone discovering its contents-_

 _-…yeah, you’ve got a point there-_ Zack nodded slightly.

“…your eyes _do_ turn more of a blue-green. Huh.”

Zack and Sephiroth looked back at Kunsel sharply, only to see him tilting his head at them, smiling slightly.

“You don’t normally see it, but the colors mix more when you two are talking. I guess some people who might see it would assume it’s a trick of the light. Heh.” Kunsel grinned. “All right. I’ll go have a look around the mansion and see what I can find. I’ll give you a call if I find anything, since I’m _definitely_ not involved in whatever you two have going on.”

Zack laughed. “Well, gotta say, you’re missing out on some interesting stuff.”

“Maybe, but I like keeping what’s in my head to myself.” Kunsel saluted. “If I don’t find anything of note, I’ll report back, and we can investigate the reactor in the morning and figure out where to go next. Because at the very least, I’m assuming you _aren’t_ going to want to stick around Hojo for too much longer, if he’s attaching supposedly absent troopers to what you have.”

Sephiroth nodded. “Be careful. There may be active security drones still there.”

“I will. They don’t call me a SOLDIER-Turk for nothing.” Kunsel grinned, then slipped out of the room.

_-…SOLDIER-Turk?-_

_-Kunsel is **very** sneaky when he wants to be-_

_-…and the Turks didn’t take him into their fold? Why?-_

Zack shrugged. _-Do I look like I know?-_

_-…that is fair-_

Belatedly, Sephiroth realized he’d made a bit of a pun on Zack’s name, because Zack burst out laughing as soon as the thought had passed between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone had any concerns about whether or not Cloud was going to have a huge role in this story, this is pretty much the gist of it. He's not gonna have very many speaking lines because of a certain green substance, so don't expect him to take up too much attention!
> 
> Also, having Kunsel along for this mission to Nibelheim is going to make things Very Interesting. :3


	28. Mysteries of the Mansion

Kunsel stood in front of the closed gate, frowning up at the large, two-story building that was hidden behind the walls that kept it separate from Nibelheim proper. The grounds didn’t look overgrown with weeds, and the gate looked like it had been replaced not too long ago.

“Hm. What kinds of secrets are you hiding?”

“I wouldn’t go in there.”

Kunsel turned and blinked at the young woman – a teenager, really – walking over. A cowboy hat and a shirt skirt? In _this_ weather?

Although, these people _were_ locals. She mustn’t be as affected by frostbite.

“The mansion’s haunted,” the local added. “We hear screaming coming from there sometimes.”

“Screaming? Like a monster screaming?”

The local shook her head. “It sounds….” She hesitated. “Wait. Are you…are you with SOLDIER?”

“What gave it away?” Kunsel motioned to his appearance. “My uniform? Or just the helmet?”

“Dad said there were SOLDIERs in town. He said you were going to the reactor tomorrow?”

“That’s the thought. Apparently, it’s too much of a trek to make this afternoon?”

The girl nodded. “Mt. Nibel can be pretty treacherous at night. If the dragons don’t find you, the wolf packs will.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Kunsel nodded. “I’m a bit curious about this mansion, though. We were told it was abandoned here? And that there are monsters inside? Monsters this close to your homes could be a problem if they ever got out and decided to attack the town.”

“Th-they’ve never come out and bothered any of us before, so—”

“It could still happen.” Kunsel turned back and looked up at the gate. “Hm. I’m going in to have a look around.”

“Wh-what?! But – are you sure you can handle—”

“I’m a SOLIDER, right?” Kunsel tilted his head back towards her and grinned. “Just because I’m only Second Class doesn’t mean I can’t handle a few monsters. I’ll be fine, kid.”

“Tifa,” the girl corrected.

“Tifa?” Kunsel nodded. “Nice to meet you, then. I’m Kunsel.”

Kunsel lowered himself into a crouch, then leapt over the gate in an elaborate backflip. When he landed, he could see Tifa staring at him with wide eyes. He smirked. “Don’t worry about me. I can handle myself against a few monsters. I’ll just make sure not to use too much ice against the ones that live around here. They’ve got a natural resistance to that, I’d bet.” He turned to walk up to the front door and waved back at Tifa. “I’ll be fine, Tifa! Don’t worry about me.”

He could feel Tifa’s gaze digging into the back of his head as he walked to the front door. A country bumpkin like her probably hadn’t seen a SOLDIER in action before. He was almost tempted to show her a few more tricks, but he had something he needed to do.

If Tifa asked later, maybe. She was pretty cute. Made him wonder if she had any suitors in town who were vying for her attention.

_Maybe Cloud was interested in her, too? I’ll have to ask Zack if he’s got any idea about that._

The front door was locked, which was to be expected, but it wasn’t built to stand up against a SOLDIER’s strength. The nice, fancy-looking wood caved under his fist with a crunch, and the hole that resulted was wide enough that Kunsel could reach in and turn the doorknob from the inside.

“Whoever built this place is gonna notice I was here, but if this place was abandoned, not like they’re gonna care.” Kunsel hummed to himself, then stepped inside.

The mansion did _not_ look abandoned.

“Not a lick of dust anywhere….” Kunsel looked around as he closed the door behind him. He was going to have to find something to patch that hole, wasn’t he? The sooner the better, but it didn’t look like there was anyone who’d responded to the noise. No one was shouting an alarm, and no one was standing in the foyer staring at him. Or ready to attack him.

“Well, looks like it’s just me and the monsters. Time to have a look around and see if I can figure out what they’re hiding.”

If there had been any monsters on the first floor, it looked like they’d been cleaned out. There were scorch marks on the floor in the kitchen where it looked like a few bombs had exploded, and there was still food in the kitchen’s working refrigerator, even if some of it was starting to mold.

“Someone was here _fairly_ recently. Huh.” Kunsel rubbed his chin in thought. “And it looks like the monsters were all cleared out. Makes things easier for me.”

He considered sending a message to Zack and Sephiroth, but decided against it. There wasn’t anything of note just yet, other than the absence of monsters.

The screaming that Tifa had mentioned was still worrying, too….

“Time to have a look at the rest of this house. Maybe I’ll find some answers…a corpse, maybe. Or a secret passage to a secret lab. Wouldn’t put it past them if they had something hidden in a hidden basement around here.”

Just in case, Kunsel kept his short sword in hand as he did another sweep of the first floor. The foyer was clear, but now that Kunsel was _really_ looking, he could see there were more scorch marks on the floor, and a few long scratches in the wood and along some of the walls.

“Claws, maybe? But they’d be thicker than this if they could run this deep….” Kunsel frowned as he rested a hand against one of the slashes for a moment, then pulled out his PHS and took a picture of it. “It has to be a weapon, but I’ll need a second opinion before I can feel confident about that decision.”

He tapped a quick message and sent it and the picture to Zack and Sephiroth, then pocketed his PHS and kept moving.

The only other room of note on the first floor was what looked like an old-fashioned drawing room, but the piano had been busted to pieces, and the furniture looked like it had been torn or _shot_ in some places.

“Looks like someone else already came through here and cleared them out.” Kunsel snapped more pictures, but he didn’t send them to the others this time. They hadn’t responded to his first message yet. “But that doesn’t explain what Tifa said about the sound of people screaming.”

He walked around the piano and felt something crunch underfoot that didn’t feel like a piece of furniture. He looked down and moved his boot slightly.

“Left 10? Hm.” Kunsel picked up the note and pocketed it. It looked like it was the second part of a code, so it could be useful later.

Kunsel circled around the first floor a third time, then climbed the stairs in the foyer to the second floor when he didn’t see anything different.

Kunsel followed the bullet holes and slash marks up the stairs with an increasing frown. There wasn’t any sign of any monster remains on the stairs, which only made him wonder _why_ they were everywhere.

“What in the world….”

And then he saw the trail of repeated slash marks that led straight to the room on the left of the staircase. It looked like it could have been a bedroom.

Before something had slashed into every piece of furniture that _had_ been there.

“They were _driving_ them somewhere.” Kunsel’s eyes widened. “That explains it. They didn’t want the monsters damaging too much of the house, otherwise the entire building would probably look like a wreck from the inside. But that still doesn’t explain what happened to the people who lived here.”

He moved to the other side of the building this time. He knew he was missing a great deal – some of the notes that were scattered on the first floor that he would have to investigate later, some strange chests that had been abandoned by their previous owners, sealed shut and covered in dust. But right now, finding the _true_ secrets of this place _and_ maybe what had happened to the monsters was a little more important.

Kunsel reached what looked like an office on the other side of the second floor. This space didn’t look trashed in the least, which _really_ suggested that someone had driven all the monsters to the other side of the house.

“They must have wanted to keep them out of here.” Kunsel frowned. “But what would they want to keep safe?”

The PHS vibrated. He pulled it out and frowned at the message.

_“That is from a katana, much smaller than mine. I haven’t seen anyone in the village who is armed with such a weapon. Be careful, the person who is armed with this weapon may still be there.”_

Zack had sent a message, too. _“The hazy feeling is still here, Kunsel. It’s starting to get a little hard to think, but we’ve been able to push it back. Kinda feels like there’s something else trying to dig in. Find anything yet?”_

Kunsel sent them back a message. _“The mansion is quieter than I’d like. The monsters are gone. It looks like they were driven into specific rooms destroyed there, rather than letting them run wild and destroy the entire mansion. It feels like there should be something here, but I’m not finding anything yet._

_“Going to do a few more sweeps of the place. Will let you know if I find anything.”_

Kunsel put the PHS back in his pocket and looked around the room again. “There must be something I’m missing. I should circle around here again after a moment for a breather.”

Kunsel walked over to a wall on the other side of the room and leaned against it, frowning. “Now, if I was a secret entrance to a hidden room or a hidden basement, where would I be…?”

Something clicked behind him, and a part of the wall _shifted._

Kunsel moved away quickly as a part of the wall slid aside, revealing a hidden spiral staircase that was inside the tower that was on the side of the mansion.

“What the…?” Kunsel moved to the open doorway and looked down the spiral staircase. “That _definitely_ goes deeper than the first floor. Hidden basement it is.”

Out came the PHS again. _“Found a hidden entrance into what I suspect is a basement. Going for a closer look.”_

\----

Zack flopped his arm back over his eyes and huffed. “It’s getting harder to think again. I’m starting to wonder if something’s happening to Cloud and that’s why we’re feeling like this.” He raised the arm slightly to look over at Sephiroth, who was sitting on his bed rather than lying down. “I mean, it didn’t start until we got to Nibelheim, and then we started kinda hearing him, so…”

Sephiroth raised his head from his hands. He looked like he was nursing a headache. “It would be _easier_ to think if you blocked it out more than you currently are.”

“I’m _trying,_ believe me, but it feels like he’s leaking over a lot more than you and I do to each other.” Zack dropped the arm back over his eyes again. The lights in the inn seemed harsher than when they’d arrived for some reason. Maybe it was the difference between being in here and the sun setting? “At this point, I’m just tempted to let him in and be done with it and keep out anything _else_ that might be lurking around here.”

“Because you think this is the trooper that you met in Modeoheim.”

“Has to be. The kid said he was from Nibelheim, _and_ he knew who Mrs. Strife was without me saying anything. We didn’t get anything that identifiable from him before that happened.” Zack pushed himself up to a sitting position and almost winced at how dizzy the movement made him. - _Man, mako poisoning must be rough, if I’m only just **feeling** it-_

“I mean, who _else_ could it be?” Zack frowned at Sephiroth, almost squinting.

Sephiroth looked back at him with a deep frown. “Do you _want_ to know my answer?”

_-I know you have been ignoring my thoughts for the last fifteen minutes, Zack-_

Zack winced. “I just…how could that monster _sound_ like that? I really don’t think that what we’re getting right now is from your moth—”

Something _scraped_ across the barrier.

Zack stiffened immediately, his shoulders taking most of the startled stress. Sephiroth instinctively reached for his katana as the hazy fog-that-might-have-been-Cloud writhed away from the thing at the wall. The resulting slam of haze on both Sephiroth’s and Zack’s minds made Zack go lightheaded and dizzy for a few seconds.

_-…let me in…-_

A chill ran down Zack’s spine, and judging by Sephiroth’s expression, the sensation had carried over to him as well. The voice hadn’t sounded hazy like Cloud, and it definitely hadn’t felt like Cloud, either. It felt like it was _trying_ to be kind, and…motherly?

 _-Block it-_ Sephiroth said shortly.

Zack was already screwing his eyes shut and focusing on finding the thing that had scraped against them and pushing back. _-Way ahead of you. I do_ not _like the feel of that voice. **My** mom is in Gongaga, and that’s nowhere close to here-_

_-And she has not been involved in Hojo’s work-_

The scraping feeling persisted as the thing kept bumping against the barrier. Even as Sephiroth and Zack built up the walls that kept it out, it still tried to find chinks in their armor.

Until Zack bristled. _-Sometimes a good defense is one that’s stuffed full of offense!-_

A mental shriek passed over the barrier, but Zack only pressed harder, putting more sharp, pointy things between themselves and whatever the thing was. The haze was still there, to be sure, and there was some faint panic from wherever _that_ was coming from, but at least the other voice hadn’t been able to get in.

 _-What do you think **that** was?-_ Zack looked over at Sephiroth frowning. _-That didn’t feel-- -_

 _\- --human, no-_ Sephiroth nodded slightly. _-Perhaps something in the Nibelheim area is capable of attacking on a mental level, and sought to take advantage of our current confusion-_

_-…no….not…Nibel’s…monster-_

Zack stiffened. The faint voice in the haze was back, but it kept going before he could say anything.

_-Don’t…like it…not…not mom….-_

Sephiroth hissed a breath through his teeth. “So it _is_ her.”

“Who?” Zack frowned at Sephiroth. “You’re feeling pretty murderous there, Seph. Are you okay?”

“I’m _fine._ I have reason to suspect that our extra passenger’s presence is affecting my emotions, as he has neither the control, nor the awareness to keep himself in one place.” Sephiroth huffed. “I _also_ have reason to suspect that _that_ was Jenova.”

A chill ran down Zack’s spine. “What? But – But that’s impossible! Didn’t that thing _die_ thousands of years ago?”

“That is what we were led to believe.” Sephiroth’s expression was dark, and his thoughts were definitely leaning in that direction as well. “It seems that Hojo has been keeping more than just the _existence_ of Jenova secret from the rest of us.”

“Aerith didn’t know that thing was still alive,” Zack said quickly. “At least…she can’t have, she hasn’t been in contact with that monster.”

“But she _is_ an Ancient. You said so yourself.”

“W-well, _yeah,_ but –” Zack winced as the haze tried to pull forward into his head, and he pushed it back. _-No, no, I need to be thinking right now. You’re not helping me that much-_

_-…rry…-_

“Ancients probably have some kinda power we don’t have or something.” Zack rubbed the side of his head, frowning. “Could ask her, probably, but I wanna figure out where Cloud is and where the fog’s coming from, first. I mean…what if I can’t think straight enough to send her a text? Or call? Could just end up being gibberish, and then she’d be worried for no reason.”

“I would not be surprised if she already _is_ worried,” Sephiroth replied.

The _thing_ scraped across the edge of their minds again. They shuddered at the feel of it, and Zack gave it a harsh stab with the swords in the barriers to make it retreat again.

“She was aware of my…heritage…before I mentioned her name,” Sephiroth said carefully. “I would not be surprised if she was made aware of what is happening here in the same manner.”

“So…I _should_ send her a message?”

“It…” Sephiroth winced as the haze started to settle in. “…might be wise…” He pushed it back gently. _-Stay where you are, Cloud. I have no need of you in my private space-_

_-…rry…-_

“Well, I’ll try…”

Zack pulled out his PHS and flipped it open. He blinked, then frowned. “That’s…huh. Kunsel sent another message.”

“Did he?”

“Yeah….” Zack opened the message and scanned it over, then read it again. “A hidden basement? Huh. Wonder what’s down there that they had to keep hidden.”

Zack paused. Cloud’s hazy presence hovered near the edge of his consciousness. _-Cloud, do you know where you are?-_

No words this time, but Zack felt Cloud was mostly uncertain and a lot of confusion at the question.

“What are you thinking?” Sephiroth frowned.

Zack chewed his lower lip. _-Cloud, is there a monster down there **with** you?-_

Hazy confusion again, but there was some alarm as Cloud picked up on what Zack was implying.

_-Gotta warn Kunsel-_

_-Wait-_

Zack frowned at Sephiroth. _-Whaddaya mean, wait?-_

 _-He already knows to be cautious, and if he needs assistance, he will ask for it-_ Sephiroth gave Zack a pointed look. _-Send your message to Aerith-_

 _-Okay, okay….-_ Zack opened a new message and made checked twice to make sure that it was going to Aerith, not Kunsel. Moving his fingers to get what he needed to ask onto the screen was more difficult than he was used to, for some reason. It felt like he was needing to hold back, and sometimes his fingers would move to a letter he didn’t need.

Zack shook his head and put a little more focus into finishing the question, then read it over again before sending it to Aerith. He closed the PHS and dropped it on the bed next to him sighing. “Man, Cloud, you’re making it _really_ hard to think here, buddy. Is your head always full of clouds like this?”

_-So..rry…-_

Something shifted in the haze in such a way that it made Zack blink, then frown. He closed his eyes and focused on the barrier again, sharpening his swords just as the _thing_ on the other side made a pass at them with a faint shriek of _something_ that almost made Sephiroth shudder.

 _-I **really** don’t like the feel of this thing-_ Zack frowned. _-Kinda wish it would just shut up and leave us alone. What’d we ever do to it, anyway?-_

 _-Exist-_ Sephiroth replied moodily. _-What other reason does she need?-_

Zack shot Sephiroth a look. “Hey, now—”

The haze that was maybe Cloud shifted suddenly, and any voice there might have been there completely vanished. The fog started to spread in response, forcing Zack and Sephiroth to push it back into its corner while also focusing on keeping the barriers up.

 _-What – the – **hell?-**_ Zack gripped one side of his head, wincing as the monster on the other side of the barrier tried to break through again. This time his swords stuck in somewhere, and it shrieked before retreating out of his mental reach. _-What just happened?-_

 _-If this is the effects of mako poisoning…I would assume that our little passenger has lost his ability to produce a conscious thought-_ Sephiroth frowned, rubbing his forehead.

_-What?! But-- -_

_-He is comatose, Zack. If there is a chance of him awakening from this, it will be…slim-_ Sephiroth glanced out the window. The sun was dead-set on disappearing now. _-It likely took a great deal of strength for him to even reach out this much-_

_-…but then…what are we gonna do about him?-_

_-About him? Nothing. Mako poisoning requires medical attention, and you and I have no experience in such matters-_

The haze tried to get their attention again, but it was pushed back into its spot behind the barrier gently. They checked their walls to make sure that the thing that was trying to get in wasn’t going to be able to in the near future.

Zack grunted. “This stinks. So even if we do find Cloud, we’ll just have to deal with that for however long it takes for him to wake up?”

“That is likely, yes.” Sephiroth frowned as Zack’s annoyance leaked over to him. “I would recommend keeping your head level until then. I have my doubts that he would be able to remain in such a state for the rest of his life, if _we_ are sharing his headspace as much as he is sharing in ours.”

“Easier said than done, I bet…”

Zack’s PHS vibrated. He had an easier time pulling it out of his pocket and handling the buttons this time. “It’s from Kunsel!” He flipped the device open and opened the message. “He’d better be saying he’s heading back here so we can talk about what we’re doing tomorrow or—”

The PHS almost dropped from his fingers when he saw the three words Kunsel had sent.

Sephiroth leaned back slightly as Zack’s shock nearly bowled him over. “Zack.”

“No way…”

“Zack.” Sephiroth motioned for him to hand over the PHS. “What did he find.”

Zack shook his head, and handed Sephiroth the device so that he could read the message himself.

It was three words, and an attachment. Sephiroth scanned the message first, then read it over again as a feeling of dread settled in.

Then he opened the attachment, and a breath hissed through his teeth.

“Is he –”

Sephiroth closed the PHS and tossed it back at Zack before he could finish his question. “We’re going to meet up with Kunsel. Now.”

Zack fumbled to catch the device, but managed. “ _Now?_ It’s gonna be dark soon, and the temperature’s gonna—”

“I think we will be warm enough where we are going.” Sephiroth rose to his feet and made for the room’s door. “It seems you were right about one thing, at least.”

“Y-yeah, but – why did Hojo think to drag _him_ into all this?” Zack grabbed the Buster sword and followed Sephiroth out of the room, down the stairs, and out the door. “He’s just a trooper, he hasn’t even gone through any of the enhancements yet!”

“Perhaps we will find some answers where we are going.” Sephiroth glanced at the buildings around them, glowing from the inside with their own internal light. “I have no doubt that there will be some lab materials, where we are going.”

“You mean—”

“I have no doubt that the ‘hidden basement’ Kunsel located is one of Hojo’s _personal_ labs.”

Zack’s expression paled enough that it almost looked like _he_ was glowing. He shook his head and gained a determined frown. “Let’s get Cloud out of there and figure out what’s going on. The sooner we get our answers, the better _I’ll_ feel about leaving Shinra and knocking Hojo’s head off when we do.”

“Hm.” Sephiroth smiled slightly. “Yes, that would be ideal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :3
> 
> Kunsel's definitely finding things. We'll have to wait until next week to see what is hiding in the basement, though. Heh heh.


	29. Investigations

_“Cloud!”_

Zack caught Cloud as he fell out of the opening mako tank, unbothered by the mako that was covering the poor unconscious – _comatose_ – trooper. If Cloud was so much as aware that there were people standing around him, he didn’t give a sign.

The hazy feeling at the back of Zack’s and Sephiroth’s minds, however, _definitely_ suggested that he was still there.

“I wasn’t expecting you to get here this fast,” Kunsel said as he moved away from the tank’s release valve. “Zack, Sephiroth, are you all right?”

“Y-yeah, just…just gimme a minute.” Zack hefted Cloud up into his arms, frowning at the green mako that was sticking to the trooper’s hair and skin. “We’re gonna have to get this off him. Doesn’t look like he’s gonna be waking up for a while….”

“I doubt that he will be capable of it,” Sephiroth agreed. He looked around the lab’s setup, frowning deeply. “There is likely a decontamination shower in this place…I doubt that Hojo would have allowed anything from outside this room to affect his _experiments.”_

While his expression didn’t change, there was something about the way that Sephiroth’s eyes shifted that suggested he was _very_ displeased by what they had been presented with.

Kunsel noticed, even though he had no the mental connection with Sephiroth. “I think I saw one a couple rooms down. Zack, mind if I…?” He motioned for Zack to hand Cloud over. “We’re the only ones here, I’ve checked the lab and the mansion three times over. You can trust me to handle this without getting jumped.”

Zack nodded and let Kunsel take Cloud from his arms. “Just…be careful. He’s been passing his mako-poisoned-effects onto the two of us.” He glanced at Sephiroth as he spoke.

“Really?” Kunsel’s head tilted down to look at Cloud. The blond trooper’s eyes were half-open and unfocused. The mix of sky blue and mako green in them did not go unnoticed. “Well, that explains that, at least. Be back in a few minutes.”

Kunsel turned and stepped out of the room quickly, leaving Sephiroth and Zack standing in a not-at-all-dusty, quiet lab, with three clean mako tanks and a fourth recently-emptied one.

“Okay.” Zack started squatting. “Out of _everything_ I was expecting, I have to admit, I was _not_ expecting Cloud to be _here,_ being used for who _knows_ what by Hojo.”

“And what _were_ you expecting, if you said he was the voice we had been hearing?” Sephiroth raised an eyebrow as he watched Zack. “He brought the mako poisoning symptoms with him.”

“I know, I know, but just – I wish he hadn’t had to _deal_ with that. He just wanted to join SOLDIER, not get mixed up in _our_ mess. It’s not right.” Zack stopped with a sigh and shook his head. “That doesn’t explain the other voice, though. The nasty one that’s still trying to get in.”

The presence scraped against their barrier. _-Son, let me-- -_

Zack responded with a mental punch of blades that sent it away. It screeched something that made Sephiroth shudder, but he held his ground.

“We _really_ need to deal with that,” Zack said. “I dunno about you, but I can’t go around for the rest of my life hearing that _thing_ try to get into our heads.” A chill ran down his spine as a thought occurred to him. “Think that thing’s _here,_ too? Like Cloud?”

Sephiroth shifted slightly. “That is a…troubling thought.”

“Troubling _nothing._ What _I_ don’t like is that they sent _us_ here. The two of us, out of _anyone else_ they could have picked.” Zack hit his fist against the wall behind the mako tanks. “I think Hojo wanted us here on purpose.”

“I would not put it past him,” Sephiroth replied. “He likely had reasons for doing so.”

“Like seeing what could happen if we got in sync with _that thing?”_ Zack almost motioned vaguely, then winced as the other voice bounced off their walls again. He almost skewered it, but it got away before the swords could explode from the barrier. “Cause I don’t wanna find out.”

Sephiroth nodded slightly, then paused and looked past Zack. “Hm. That could be of use.”

“What could?”

“I find it likely that Hojo has something of some importance here, among his research notes.” Sephiroth stepped forward and moved around Zack. Zack turned and followed Sephiroth with his eyes as the other First walked into an adjoining room that just happened to have a bunch of bookshelves in it.

“Research?” Zack followed after him into the next room. He blinked. “Uh…huh. That’s a lot of books.”

“It will take us some time to read through it.” Sephiroth didn’t look the least fazed by the large number of books that he was met with. “I expect you to take some of these for yourself.”

“I – well, yeah, I guess, but – wouldn’t Kunsel be better for this?”

“I believe that he is busy at the moment.” Sephiroth stepped towards one of the bookshelves and pulled a volume off the shelf. “He can assist us when he is done making sure that Cloud is no longer covered in mako, as that might only make his mako poisoning worse.”

Zack winced. “I…yeah, that makes sense. I don’t like sitting still and reading for _too_ long, though. I’ll help a bit, but then I think I’m gonna have a look around the mansion to see if there’s a bed that isn’t torn to pieces. Cloud’s gonna need somewhere that isn’t a lab table to lie on. I dunno about you, but I don’t want to let him be seen by the troopers we brought along. They may be here as backup for us, but they could have been given different orders than what we’ve got.”

Sephiroth didn’t offer Zack an answer. He already had his nose in a book and felt far too focused to be bothered to answer.

Zack eyed him for a moment, then shook his head and reached for a book of his own. It would be better to read than to stand around and watch.

\----

Kunsel managed to get Cloud cleaned off and in a spare First Class uniform that just happened to be lying around for…some reason. Either a First who wasn’t a member of the Main Three had worked here as a guard at some point in the past, or Hojo had just…decided to pack a uniform that managed to fit a shortie like Cloud. Most Firsts got to be quite tall, after mako treatments and whatever else SOLDIERs were exposed to.

Cloud was, technically, of average height. Next to Zack? He looked like a pipsqueak. Next to _Sephiroth?_ Cloud looked like a _child._

Kusnel sighed and shook his head as he finished getting Cloud into the uniform, then pulled him off the floor. “Man, Cloud, you must have it pretty bad if you didn’t so much as twitch during all of that. That shower head was set for a higher water pressure than the ones in the barracks, I bet.” He stepped out into the lab. “Now to find a place to put you….”

He went back into the main part of the basement, then blinked in surprise when he saw that Zack and Sephiroth were both standing with their noses in books. It looked like they were only just starting to work their way through the large library that was stored down here alongside the lab equipment.

“I’m taking Cloud upstairs,” Kunsel said loudly. “I think there’s a bed somewhere that’s been left untouched. I’m guessing we’re not going back to the inn tonight.”

“That is likely not going to happen in the near future, no.” Sephiroth didn’t look up from the book he was reading. “We are going to need your assistance in reading the rest of this information in order to find what we _need_ to know.”

Zack tossed a book over his shoulder. “That one’s got Jenova is an Ancient garbage again.”

Sephiroth nodded and closed his own before doing the same. There was a small pile already forming between them of haphazardly-tossed books. “The only potentially truthful pieces of information so far have involved his process Hojo has used to extract the material he uses from Jenova to apply to SOLDIERs, along with their mako injections. It seems a part of the process is done here.”

Kunsel frowned. “Which means—”

He cut himself off as Sephiroth and Zack winced at once, then shook their heads as they reached for more books.

“That thing’s getting more insistent,” Zack muttered. “I’d rather go out and find that thing and chop its head off than deal with more of _that._ ”

“We don’t know what we’re dealing with,” Sephiroth replied. “I will not have you – _either_ of you – walk into a monster’s den without having all the knowledge you might find yourself lacking.”

“Are you dealing with a telepathic attack?” Kunsel frowned. He looked down at Cloud. “He hasn’t so much as flinched. I’m guessing _that’s_ because of the mako poisoning.”

“Yeah.” Zack tapped the side of his head. “There’s a hazy spot where Cloud is, but he isn’t doing anything right now. He was talking before, but I haven’t heard him say anything since we got here.”

“He was saying things before?” Kunsel’s eyebrows rose slightly, but his helmet kept that hidden from Zack and Sephiroth.

“Just a couple words. Names, mostly.” Zack waved a hand. “I don’t think he liked the mayor too much, either, but I dunno why.”

“It’s likely we reached him in his last struggling moments, before he succumbed to the mako poisoning and became comatose,” Sephiroth said. He frowned. “Mako poisoning isn’t something that can be recovered from quickly, if it can be. I haven’t heard of many instances where people exposed to mako to this extent have recovered.”

“Cloud’ll recover.” Zack sent Sephiroth a pointed look. “He’s a stubborn mountain boy from Nibelheim. No way will a little mako poisoning keep him down.”

“I expect him to, if you speak of him this way.” Sephiroth paused. “Otherwise, we may be forced to do something about him, before the mako poisoning affects us permanently.”

“Like _hell_ I’m gonna let you do anything to Cloud that could hurt him.” Zack frowned at Sephiroth. “You’re not blocking him out and leaving him to _that_ monster, either.”

“I was not suggesting such a thing,” Sephiroth replied evenly. “Kunsel.”

“Right, right. I’ll go put Cloud somewhere and help you figure out whatever Hojo’s got in here.” Kunsel paused. “First, though…there was a weird scattering of notes on the first floor. That could be useful for something. I’ll go check it out and report back with what I find.”

Kunsel adjusted his hold on Cloud, then turned and carried him carefully back up the spiral staircase and to the second floor. He noticed one bed tucked into the corner of the destroyed room where the monsters had been massacred, so he lay Cloud there and returned to the first floor.

“Okay, so…notes. What were those notes scattered on the first floor for?”

The four scattered scraps of paper were still where Kunsel had seen them. He picked them up and read them over carefully, frowning.

_“I must get rid of all those that stand in the way of my research. Even that of the Turks….”_

Kunsel read the notes over, frowned, then read them over again.

“A safe…? I think I remember seeing one on the second floor.” Kunsel looked back up towards the stairs. “But the rest of these clues…let’s see. A box, behind the ivory’s short of tea and ray – wait.”

Kunsel pulled out the scrap that he’d found near the piano. “2, Left 10…huh. Well, that makes sense now. I should find the rest of them and maybe get Sephiroth and Zack to give me some help. If this guy didn’t want people to interfere with his research, that safe is probably boobytrapped. It could work as a good distraction from reading for Zack and Sephiroth for a while.”

He decided to see about finding the other clues before getting their attention about it. A goose chase like _that_ wasn’t something they needed his attention for.

“The box with the most oxygen. Let’s see….there’s a few boxes upstairs. The note’s probably inside one of them. That creak is going to be hard to find. And that doesn’t even give me what the fourth number is supposed to be.” Kunsel shook his head. “I’ll find it. Just focus on the other two for now.”

He went back up to the second floor and started poking around in the boxes on the left side of the house.

“What kind of person keeps a prosthetic machine gun lying around?” Kunsel frowned at the contents of the box, then looked up and blinked. “Huh. Well, there you are.” He tugged the note off the top of the box. “So, this is the first one, and I’ve got the second already. That means I’ve got two left. Let’s see…the next one is…this floor, near a chair. Man, this guy _really_ didn’t want to let people finding out what was in that safe. If Hojo ever had a sense of humor, he probably would have laughed watching people comb the house for anything useful.”

Lucky for them, Hojo was nowhere nearby, and if he was, he probably wasn’t getting the reactions he was looking for.

Careful steps around the second floor led to multiple creaky floorboards getting torn up until Kunsel was able to find the right one with the note taped under it.

“Well, that’s _three._ But then that means I’m missing the fourth one, which doesn’t have an actual clue written for it.” Kunsel put the combination note with the other two and pulled out the other notes. “Maybe I’m missing something. Hojo wouldn’t make it easy to find everything you need to open a safe, and I’m not going to give up that easily, either.”

Kunsel looked over the notes again, frowning. The scrap of paper with the listed clues had enough space at the bottom to suggest that there was something written there. He held it close to his face, scowled, then pulled his helmet off and gave the paper another look.

“…well, I’m glad that I’ve had enough time interacting with Turks to know that they’re not above using invisible ink sometimes. Kinda wish it had been written in _code,_ though. That would’ve been easier to work with. At least I won’t have to burn the paper or expose it to heat in order to find out what it’s trying to tell me when it’s clearly written in _code.”_

Kunsel huffed, then shook his head and took the stairs back into the basement, pulling back on his helmet as he did. He didn’t need to look outside to know the world had gone dark between when he’d gone down and come up carrying Cloud.

“Hey, Zack? Sephiroth? I’ve found something interesting upstairs, but I’m pretty sure it’s been trapped.” Kunsel stepped into the lab and noticed a candle sitting out. He held the paper over the flame, just far enough away that it wouldn’t burn, but close enough that it would take on heat, and waited while he watched Sephiroth and Zack going through the books. “There’s a safe upstairs that might have something in it.”

Zack and Sephiroth didn’t look up.

“Sirs?”

**“We heard you, Kunsel.”**

A chill ran down Kunsel’s spine as his eyes widened sharply. “You just –”

Zack and Sephiroth sighed in unison and looked up from the books they were reading. Their eyes were a near-perfect mix of blue-green that almost made them a new shade of color. **“We’re in sync. It’s easier to keep the monster out and Cloud safe from the presence as well.”**

“Monster?” Kunsel frowned. “You _are_ being attacked by something telepathically.”

They nodded. **“It has been attempting to reach us by using Cloud’s mako poisoned mind as a cover. We have been keeping it out by acting as separate minds, but it has become more insistent.”**

Hearing them talk in unison only made more chills run down Kunsel’s spine. It was like two people just happened to know what to say at the exact same time, except…they weren’t doing this as a coincidence. _This_ was because of their mental connection.

Which meant they were _thinking_ on the same wavelength. _Literally._

**“What did you find?”**

“There’s a safe upstairs.” Kunsel remembered to pull the page away from the candle and looked at the bottom of the page. _Bingo, there’s the last number._ “Just need to break it open. Knowing Hojo, he wouldn’t even make _that_ easy. He probably hid the clues to the safe all over the house for some reason.”

Their expressions hardened. **“Whatever is in that safe could also be dangerous.”**

“Exactly why I didn’t open it alone.” Kunsel paused. “Also, the sun’s set. Either we can stay here and read all night until we get some answers, or we can go back to the hotel and sleep and take care of what we’re supposed to do in the morning. There could be something in the reactor that will lead to more answers, too.”

**“That—”**

Zack and Sephiroth cut themselves off with another dual wince. They brought their free hands up to the sides of their heads and dug fingers into their temples.

 **“…feels like the _thing_ wants us there, too.”** That sounded more like Zack than Sephiroth. **“We would rather not get closer to it. It’s been difficult enough facing against its presence here. Cloud’s mental state isn’t assisting us, but it isn’t difficult to corral him into a separate part of our mindspace. When he does wake up, it is likely that we will have to assist him in _not_ thinking our experiences are his. He isn’t aware enough to remember himself.”**

Kunsel winced. “Yeah, that could be bad when he wakes up. I hope his experiences don’t bleed over to you guys, too.”

 **“We think we’ll be able to separate what he knows from what we know.”** Zack and Sephiroth exchanged looks, then sighed in unison. **“You are right in that we came here for a mission, but we don’t know if we will be able to approach the reactor in our current state.”**

“So, what then?” Kunsel looked down at the scraps of paper that had the safe’s combination.

**“We will investigate the mansion. You can handle the reactor.”**

“Alone?”

**“We did bring those two infantry soldiers with us. They’ll be able to provide you with cover.”**

“That depends on the monsters that live up in the area, doesn’t it?”

**“Do you doubt your abilities? You’re a Second for a reason, Kunsel. You’ve got this. Hope you’re not scared because of a few wolves.”**

Kunsel wagged a finger at them. “I’m afraid of the wolf _packs,_ Zack. And the dragons more than the wolf packs. Do you _really_ think that a Second can handle them when they sent a couple Firsts for this?”

Their gazes hardened. **“You know they sent us specifically up here for a reason, now. Cloud was placed in a mansion without any staff, and there is something attacking us that wants nothing to do with you. _You_ have to be the one to handle the reactor. Can we trust you to do that?”**

Kunsel stared at the two of them, and their blue-green eyes that had turned into a merged teal, and considered his options. He frowned and looked at the now-empty mako tanks and the other laboratory equipment, then looked back at Zack and Sephiroth.

If they were _this_ willing to merge together in order to keep the monster out of their heads, it had to be something dangerous.

“…all right.” Kunsel nodded. “I’m going back to the hotel to get some rest. Cloud is upstairs on the second floor. I’d recommend stopping your reading every once in a while to check on him, and to get away from Hojo’s writings. I don’t know what he’s written down here, but there’s no way that reading all that can be very good for you. I’m planning on checking on you in the morning before I leave for the reactor. If I find out that you were down here reading _all night,_ I’ll make sure that you regret it. Somehow.”

**“Don’t worry, Kunsel. We’ve got this.”**

The twin grins that flickered across their faces was a surprise for Kunsel. Especially since they _both_ looked so much like _Zack_ in that moment that it almost made Kunsel imagine what Sephiroth could look like with black hair.

“See to it that you do,” Kunsel quipped back. “And maybe check on the safe? There could be more information in there.”

 **“Kunsel.”** They gave him a pointed look. **“Go. We’ll be fine.”**

“I’ll believe that when I check in the morning and see that you are _not_ ranting along to Hojo’s line of thinking,” Kunsel replied. “Good night, Zack, Sephiroth.”

**“Good night.”**

Kunsel gave them a pointed look, then turned and climbed back to the second floor. He checked in on Cloud – he was still unconscious, but his eyes had turned the same teal as Zack’s and Sephiroth’s – then made his way out the front door and over the main gate.

A few houses had their lights on as he made his way back to the inn, but no one was out walking in the chill evening air except for him.

He hoped that meant no one was going to try and sneak into the house while Zack and Sephiroth were busy being hive-minded bookworms, if only for Cloud’s sake.

“I hope leaving him alone on the second floor _wasn’t_ a bad idea.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys can probably tell that I'm setting up for something here. :3
> 
> Just a heads-up, next chapter is going to have a lot of italics in it. It's going to be a very Sephiroth and Zack-centric chapter, and they don't always vocalize what they want to say.
> 
> You can probably also guess at what they might get up to on Friday.


	30. The Secret Kept From Turks

Zack and Sephiroth read through Hojo’s notes for another hour before Zack started pacing impatiently while reading.

**“A break sounds like a good idea. Should we check that safe that Kunsel mentioned?”**

They looked at the pile of papers that sat on the table, then exchanged looks.

**“If it’s a safe, I/you probably shouldn’t handle that. I’m/You’re too impatient to sit and turn something that carefully.”**

Decision made, they left the books behind and gathered up the notes Kunsel found, then walked up to the second floor.

They checked in on Cloud’s physical form before going to the safe. He was lying on the bed Kunsel had left him on, eyes half-open and turned teal like their own. He was breathing, and the haze was still present in their minds.

The monster outside their minds tried to get in again, but Zack’s offense pushed it back.

**“And stay out.”**

Next, the safe. It was in a separate room, so Cloud wouldn’t be involved in whatever the safe might have hiding in it.

**_-Being in complete sync for this is going to prove to be difficult-_ **

Zack pulled back from Sephiroth slightly. He frowned and looked around. _-Looks clear-_

 _-Then that means that whatever is dangerous here is about the safe itself-_ Sephiroth arranged the notes that Kunsel had found in order, then set to work on the safe’s dial.

Zack rested a hand against the Buster sword’s handle. _-Think it’s a materia-based trap? Or something else?-_

 _-Hojo would consider a materia trap a waste of resources, and a useless experiment-_ Sephiroth’s brow furrowed slightly as he carefully turned the safe’s dial. _-It is far more likely that-- -_

The safe’s lock clicked.

Sephiroth rested a hand against the safe door and frowned up at Zack. _-Are you prepared?-_

Zack nodded. Something skittered across the edge of their shared wall, and he punched out at it with his mental swords. _-Ready when you are-_

_-Good-_

Sephiroth and Zack breathed in, their minds falling back in sync with an unnatural speed. After spending a few hours in this state, reading through Hojo’s notes with unnatural focus, settling back into it was starting to feel natural.

_“Don’t lose yourself.”_

They sighed. **_-Sorry, Aerith, but we’re going to have to do this to protect ourselves from the monster you fear. Maybe we’ll survive this and still be able to separate afterwards-_**

They pulled away from the safe, giving the door enough space to swing open. For a moment, it looked like there was a mass of something sitting in the safe instead of anything useful. But then it spilled out and expanded, turning it into an entirely different monster. Half red, half-purple, it looked like someone had spliced two monsters together and sealed it in the safe.

 **“Tch.”** Sephiroth unsheathed Masamune as Zack swung the Buster sword in front of him. **“Of course he would decide to use a monster to guard something of his.”**

The monster screeched and threw its arms forward, slashing at the two of them. They jumped away, out of the creature’s reach.

**“Our swords give us some reach. We haven’t worked on casting magic while in sync yet. Rely on the weapons that we have already mastered.”**

They nodded to each other and leapt away again as the blob-like monster lunged. The room was smaller than they would have liked. Two SOLDIERs and one large monster crammed into one room did not leave much room for movement. At least their swords were long enough that they could bat the monster’s arms away and cut into its flesh from a somewhat safe distance. Sephiroth’s sword more than Zack’s, but they were long enough all the same.

The blobby thing shrieked and lunged at them, knocking over furniture as it tried to get out into the hall. Zack moved in its path and slammed his sword into its face, drawing out a shriek before it lashed back with its purple half.

The flash of pain that hit Zack’s chest as the monster hit its mark made Sephiroth flinch and pull back for a moment.

**_-So pain is carried over between us like this. We will have to finish this quickly-_ **

Sephiroth poured on his strength and lunged forward. As they had decided they weren’t going to be using their materia, any extra energy he had went into other abilities instead.

They already had a great deal of frustration building up from what they had been reading from Hojo. It made sense that they would lash out against a monster to let off some steam.

Zack copied Sephiroth’s movements and lunged towards the creature in front of him as Sephiroth came at it from behind. It screeched and screamed in pain as dual Octaslashes went off, cutting into its flesh and leaving long, deep cuts in every direction.

The monster screamed again as it started to shift, the red half bleeding into the purple, but they were already moving to corner it in a part of the room before it could so much as retaliate to the Limit Breaks. The swords slammed into the monster’s eyes, cutting into its brain as it shrieked and slashed out at them, trying to take out the swords that were sticking in its eyes. It grabbed their arms, but it didn’t get to do anything afterward.

A final push, a final shriek, and the monster fell limp.

 **“Anyone less than a First would have had trouble with this.”** They pulled their swords out and stepped back from the monster as it bled out and turned slowly into Lifestream particles. **“It must have been guarding something important, if it was left in this safe.”**

They turned to look at the safe and frown at the open door. **“What did Hojo decide to hide here, out of everything that he already keeps in this mansion to the north?”**

There was a pile of papers in the safe, as well as a red orb of materia, and an old key.

Zack grabbed the materia and winced at the sparks that rose from the materia. It settled a moment later, letting Zack turn it over in his hand with a frown.

**“Odin? What is he doing here? If Genesis had known of this, he would have torn that monster apart himself.”**

Zack fitted the summon into an open spot in his bracer, then picked up some of the notes that had been left behind. Sephiroth looked over his shoulder.

 **“A Limit Break? It’s not meant for us. Doesn’t look like we can use it.”** Zack tucked the paper into a pocket and frowned at the key. **“This must lead to something important in the mansion. It’s likely to be an experiment he wanted to keep hidden. Looking for it might prove to be a good distraction from his notes.”**

They circled around the house again, only to pause when they saw that Cloud had fallen out of his bed. It looked like he was in the middle of trying to attack.

 **“You’re reacting to us.”** They lifted Cloud carefully and put him back on the bed, checking the haze at the back of their minds as they did. It was still present, and Cloud himself was still hard to sense. **“Stay put. You shouldn’t be moving yet.”**

Cloud twitched, but he didn’t do much other than that.

**“He is still in there. He’s a stubborn mountain boy.”**

Most of the fondness and relief came from Zack, but Sephiroth wasn’t about to push back against it. He felt amusement instead.

**“The door is likely downstairs. We think we remember seeing a locked door between the basement entrance and the main lab. This key might open that door.”**

They inclined their heads at the thought and grinned at each other.

**“If we’d known Hojo wanted to keep something hidden, we would have cut through that lock the same way Kunsel slammed his fist through the front door.”**

A dual chuckle between them. They didn’t laugh entirely in unison, which they took to be a good sign. They could still act separately, be seen as separate people.

Hopefully, being in sync like this for this long wouldn’t affect them badly if they decided to pull back and think out of sync again.

They walked back down into the basement lab and stopped in the hall between the staircase and the main lab and library. The door looked wooden at a glance, but the hinges and lock were reinforced.

 **“Whatever is in here must be dangerous.”** Sephiroth rested a hand on his sword as Zack got the key in the lock. **“We’ll have to be prepared for whatever was locked in here.”**

The lock clicked faintly. Zack left the key inside as he pulled the door open with one hand, reaching to grab his sword with the other.

They took a step over the threshold, then paused.

**“Coffins?”**

The walls were lined with the plain, wooden boxes. There were a couple on the floor as well, and one that stood out. It looked like something that belonged at a rich man’s funeral.

 **“Something does not belong here.”** They inclined their heads at the coffin. **“He would not give an experiment something this elegant, failed or otherwise.”**

Sephiroth stepped forward and reached for the coffin’s lid, then tore it away with no effort.

They blinked at the sight that met them, and the figure stared back at them with glowing red eyes.

 **“…a vampire?”** Zack’s voice was a little louder than Sephiroth’s, but Sephiroth was equally confused by the sight they were met with.

The red eyes narrowed. “…who are you?”

They stared back at the dark-haired man in the coffin. **“We could ask you the same thing.”**

The man in the coffin blinked slowly.

**_-Can we get out of sync enough to speak with him normally? It would be a risk to the barrier, but it could be possible-_ **

“You two….” The man moved to sit upright slowly. “Are you experiments of Hojo’s?”

 **“Yes and no.”** Zack and Sephiroth exchanged looks, then breathed in sync.

_-Let’s hope this-- -_

_\- --works without-- -_

_\- --that monster getting in-_

“I’m Zack, and this is Sephiroth.” Zack nodded to Sephiroth. “We’re, uh…Hojo put us in a bit of a pickle. What about you? I wouldn’t call this the best place for a _nap,_ buddy.”

The man’s gaze moved to Sephiroth as soon as Zack had said his name, and didn’t move as Zack finished talking. His eyes widened slightly. “Sephiroth?”

The way he said it carried a strange weight that made Sephiroth raise an eyebrow. Before he could get the chance to say anything, the man kept going.

“Lucretia’s son?”

Sephiroth pulled back sharply at the question. “Lucretia?”

“Who’s that?” Zack frowned and scratched the side of his head. “I haven’t heard of someone named that.”

Zack settled into the mental connection to sense Sephiroth’s state of mind, but was met with confusion and some curiosity.

“I was never told that my mother’s name was Lucretia,” Sephiroth said evenly. “I was informed of a different name.”

Zack’s swords were out before Jenova could so much as come screaming in. It got poked and shot off into the darkness outside their mental space.

The man frowned.

“It was no doubt something that Hojo said as a part of his experiment,” Sephiroth continued. “I’ve found that he hides more truths than he tells lies.”

The man’s eyes sparked at his words.

“Now, you haven’t told us who _you_ are, yet.” Sephiroth leaned forward. “What is _your_ name?”

The man in the coffin eyed Sephiroth with his red eyes, then looked at Zack before looking back at Sephiroth. “Vincent Valentine. I knew your mother, Lucretia Crescent.”

“Valentine?” Zack frowned, tilting his head. “That’s…kinda familiar.”

“I am relieved you are not thinking of Valentine’s Day, Zack,” Sephiroth replied. Vincent blinked at the comment. “You are a Turk who went missing twenty years ago. I’ve read records on your missions. I assume Hojo saw fit to take you as an experiment.”

Vincent’s gaze shifted to the coffins. “You assume correctly. Why are you here, Sephiroth? Where is Hojo?”

“Not here. As far as we’re aware, he is still in Midgar.” Sephiroth glanced at Zack.

Zack nodded in agreement. “Yeah. He hardly ever leaves that mess of a place. Bet he could _sleep_ in the Drum if he wanted to. He probably _does,_ even.” He snorted at the thought.

“I would not be surprised if he did,” Sephiroth agreed. He looked at Vincent. “I will not ask what he used you for, but I would like to know what you are going to do now. Sleeping in a coffin for however long you have left is not what I expect to be wise.”

Vincent closed his eyes at the comment. “It is to atone for my sins. I was unable to save Lucretia from Hojo’s experiments.”

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. “Experiments connected to me, I assume.”

Vincent nodded.

“Yeesh.” Zack winced. “I got pulled into this after the fact, and I don’t want to think about what _she_ went through to give birth to you.”

“Better to think I had a natural birth at all,” Sephiroth replied bitterly. “At least Hojo allowed me _that_. Beyond such events, it would be impossible to call me normal after—”

A scream came from the back of their connected minds. _-Sons! COME TO-- -_

“Get OUT!” Zack flinched back as his mental barrier lashed at the voice. The _thing_ on the other end screamed and retreated again. “Gah…that thing’s really insistent. She really doesn’t take a _hint.”_

“She?” Vincent’s eyes narrowed. A glimmer of gold passed through them for a moment. “You’re connected to something terrible.”

“We didn’t _ask_ for it, Turk.” Zack scowled.

“I never said you did.” Vincent rose to his feet and stepped out of the coffin. He swayed for a moment, then settled his stance. He adjusted the red cloak that settled around his shoulders. He shifted the golden, clawed gauntlet of a hand, shifting the fingers like he wasn’t entirely certain of them.

“What are your intentions, Vincent Valentine?” Sephiroth eyed the Turk.

Vincent tested the gauntleted hand again, then raised his gaze to Sephiroth’s. “It seems I’ve been given a chance to atone, and you are suffering from something that Hojo has caused.” He paused and glanced at Zack. “I am more willing to assist you than I am to go against you.”

They held his gaze for a moment, then nodded.

Sephiroth inclined his head. “We’ll be glad to have the assistance of such a legendary Turk. Although, I doubt that your ability to gather information is currently required. We already are aware of the monster that Hojo added to me, and the connection he forced between me, Zack, and an infantry soldier. And we are aware of the _identity_ of the monster that is currently attempting to break into our minds.”

Zack rubbed the side of his head. “Yeah, kinda hard not to know when she’s yelling about us being her sons. She should know that I’ve already _got_ a mom in Gongaga.”

Vincent inclined his head. “You’re resisting it.”

“Alone, it would have been difficult.” Sephiroth nodded to Zack. “His addition to the mental barrier has been…useful.”

“I wish what I was doing was actually hurting that monster.” Zack frowned. “At best I’m only driving her back, and it’s not doing as much as we’d like.”

“Are you aware of where the attack is coming from?”

“It’s…kinda hard to do that when it’s coming from outside the two – well, three of us, now. I don’t—”

“It’s coming from the reactor,” Sephiroth cut Zack off. He frowned as Zack blinked in surprise. “Hojo’s notes said Jenova was contained in the reactor and being used as a mako filter.”

“Eugh.” Zack winced in disgust. “And that’s used on SOLDIERs too, I bet. Yuck.”

“If we’re reacting like this to her close presence alone, it would make sense that getting closer to her would only be even more difficult.” Sephiroth’s eyes hardened. “We can’t take care of Jenova on our own.”

“Really wish we could shut her up _now,_ though.” Zack huffed. “She’s the one bothering us, I don’t see why you have to let Kunsel handle the job all by himself.”

“He’s unaffected by her presence. He can destroy any remains he finds without being mentally bombarded.”

“You said there was a third.” Vincent’s eyes narrowed slightly. “How can you be sure he is safe, when you two are here? Is there someone else watching him?”

“What, Cloud?” Zack frowned. “He’s got mako poisoning, and we’re protecting his mind up here, anyway.” He tapped the side of his head. “He feels a bit hazy, but he’s inside our walls. He isn’t going anywhere.”

“You are right to assume we should be watching him, however.” Sephiroth nodded slightly. “We are in unfamiliar territory, and it would not be wise to put Cloud in danger physically, when his mind is already at risk.”

Vincent inclined his head as Zack shot Sephiroth a sharp look of surprise.

“You didn’t bring that up when—”

“—we were reading through Hojo’s materials while Kunsel was present in the mansion.” Sephiroth met Zack’s gaze with a frown. “I trusted Kunsel to put Cloud in a safe location. However, with Jenova’s attacks becoming more frequent, bringing Cloud down here to keep an eye on him might be a wiser action.”

“ _Back_ down here? After we just pulled him out of that mako tank hours ago?” Zack looked to the doorway. “Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I looked at a clock. Kunsel said he left when the sun went down, didn’t he? It’s got to be pretty late by now.”

“You said Jenova was in the reactor?”

Zack looked back at Vincent. “You’re not…thinking of taking her on yourself.”

“The monster is nothing more than a corpse,” Vincent replied. “Destroying the body would be a simple matter.” His red eyes sparked as they narrowed.

Sephiroth inclined his head. “You would be willing to assist Kunsel in this?”

“Jenova gave Lucretia nothing but pain when she was carrying you. Hojo refused to stop the injections despite that.” There was a golden glimmer in Vincent’s eyes again for a moment. “While I cannot help Lucretia any longer, I can assist her son.”

The statement made Sephiroth raise an eyebrow at the man. He raised his head slightly and started to respond when yet another headache assaulted his senses.

_-My son, my son, come to Moth-- -_

**_-NO-_ **

The twin blasts of thick, defensive walls and strong, spiked swords sent the monster back again, and they shook their heads at the retreating headache.

They exchanged looks. **“She’s becoming more insistent.”**

Vincent’s eyes narrowed slightly as they settled back in sync.

**“We will bring Cloud back down here, so that we may continue reading through Hojo’s notes.”**

“Don’t be drawn in by anything he wrote,” Vincent said immediately. “It is far more likely that he is telling lies than telling the truth.”

 **“We learned more about Jenova from an Ancient than we did from Hojo,”** they shot back. **“We are more than aware of what he is willing to withhold.”**

“An Ancient…?” Vincent’s expression hardened. “Tell me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun writing this one, if only because I got to experiment with how the mental connection works a bit more. And had Jenova continuously attempting to break in of course.
> 
> Oh, and Vincent. Can't forget Vincent.


	31. Kunsel's Mountain Excursion, part 1

Kunsel woke up the next morning feeling mentally exhausted. A tossing and turning mind did not make any amount of sleep restful, especially when it was turning over thoughts of the mansion and the secrets Hojo had left there.

_You two better not get pulled into anything while I’m gone, or I swear I am going to murder you both._

Kunsel huffed at the thought and pushed himself out of bed. Thinking about Zack and Sephiroth wasn’t going to help them here, when there was something in the reactor. The fact that Sephiroth didn’t want to _leave_ the area and told Kunsel to go check on it was reason enough to be suspicious of it.

He would have to make sure the troopers stayed outside the reactor with whatever mountain guide they got, just in case. The reactor was Shinra’s, anyway; whatever was in there was going to be more for his eyes than any local’s.

Kunsel gathered what he felt he would need for the trip – his short sword, a small pistol, and as much materia as he could fit into his bracers. The monsters here were used to the cold, so Fire and Lightning went into one bracer, and Cure into the other. He grabbed Quake and Bio and kept them in an extra pouch, just in case, but he didn’t think he would be needing them. After all, they were walking into a mountain. A badly-placed Quake could turn into a landslide.

Kunsel opened the door to his room and was met with the two troopers they’d brought along with them. They weren’t necessarily armed to the teeth, since troopers usually weren’t, and that was going to make their climb up the mountain more dangerous.

“SOLDIER Firsts Zack and Sephiroth are investigating the abandoned Shinra manor just outside the village,” Kunsel told them. “There’s a monster infestation there, and they thought it best they handled it themselves. We will handle the reactor inspection.”

Not entirely a lie. Hojo’s notes were certainly monstrous in their own right, especially when one considered the subjects they breached.

“Sir!” the troopers saluted.

“We’re going to the water tower. We’ll be meeting our guide up the mountain there, I suspect. As we’re going up, I expect you to stay close and watch my back. The monsters in the mountain range can be very dangerous, so we can’t afford to be separated.”

“Sir!”

Kunsel nodded, then walked down the stairs, out of the hotel, and into the crisp, cold mountain air of a morning. The sky was a pale gray with cloud cover, a sight that Kunsel was used to seeing in Midgar because of all the smog the mako reactors belched into the air around them. Sure, their green light was alluring, but all it did was hide the fumes the burning mako released.

No wonder there were so many monsters prowling the slums of Midgar.

Near the water tower stood three figures – a dark-haired man glaring down at a blond-haired woman, while the same dark-haired girl Kunsel had seen yesterday stood near them, glancing around like she was looking for something.

The girl eyes met Kunsel’s face, and she raised a hand in greeting as he approached. “Good morning! If you’d slept any longer, I would have had to come wake you up myself. Climbing down the mountain at night isn’t exactly a picnic.”

Kunsel tilted his head. “You’re our guide, then.”

The girl nodded. “Yeah. You’re the SOLDIER I saw in front of the mansion, right? Kunsel?”

“And you’re Tifa.”

“Glad you remembered.” Tifa motioned to the two adults with her. “This is my father, Brian Lockhart. He’s the mayor. And that’s Mrs. Claudia Strife.”

Kunsel inclined his head slightly at the name. _Strife. Cloud’s mother, then._

“Where are the other two SOLDIERs I met yesterday?” Lockhart frowned at Kunsel.

“Investigating the mansion, sir. There’s a monster presence there, and having that so close to your people doesn’t seem like a wise idea.” Kunsel didn’t miss Claudia’s knowing smirk as he spoke. “Although, if there are people here who are interested in attempting to find any secrets the mansion may hold, as it is Shinra property, we may reinstate the monster presence after we are done with the mansion.”

The smirk dropped into a scowl.

“I can handle investigating a reactor without two Firsts at my back, sir. You don’t need to be concerned for the mission we’re here for.”

One of Lockhart’s eyes twitched at the comment. Tifa sent him a worried glance, but the man recovered himself before he let his anger get the better of him.

“So. Who’s going to be our guide?” Kunsel looked to Claudia.

The woman shook her head. “I have things of my own to take care of here.” She sent Lockhart a pointed look.

“I’ll be guiding you up the mountain!” Tifa motioned to herself with a grin. “No one in the village knows that mountain better than me!”

Claudia snorted, but she looked more amused than annoyed. “Don’t let my son hear you say that.”

Lockhart’s expression shifted to something darker, but Tifa didn’t seem to notice. She laughed nervously instead.

“I’m sure he knows places I haven’t been yet,” Tifa replied. “But we just need to get to the reactor. I don’t need to go looking in the woods picking for a fight with monsters.” She rested a hand on her hat. “So, shall we get going?”

“We’re ready when our guide is,” Kunsel replied. “I’m assuming the weather isn’t going to be a problem?” He pointed up.

“My bones say there’s no storm coming in,” Claudia replied.

Lockhart scoffed. “Your bones have been wrong before.”

“If they’ve been wrong, you haven’t been listening,” Claudia replied shortly. “Scars given by the mountain do not lie, _especially_ when they come from broken bones.”

“So we should be fine going up,” Tifa said. “Come on; let’s get going. We’ll end up coming down the mountain at night if we wait too long.” She started to walk away from the water tower, heading in the direction of the mansion.

Lockhart moved after her. “Tifa! Wait a moment!”

Kunsel frowned at the mayor while Claudia rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“He’s been looking for a chance to test that camera of his,” Claudia warned them. “I think he wants a picture of that silver-haired young man you came in with yesterday. I can’t say that I see why he would ever want to. That young man has a look about him that makes me think he could kill you just by looking at you.”

“Sephiroth isn’t that deadly, ma’am,” Kunsel replied as Lockhart had a quiet conversation with Tifa. The man probably thought he couldn’t be heard, but Kunsel’s enhanced hearing was still picking up his conversation clear as day. Claudia must know him well if she was able to predict where the mayor was leading the conversation. “Unless you want to say his sword also serves as his eyes, which I can say is completely false.”

Claudia eyed Kunsel with a curious, if cautious expression. He knew an ordinary woman wouldn’t be able to see through him, but something about her cold blue eyes almost made him want to shiver.

After a moment, her expression relaxed, and she nodded. “You must be a friend of his, if you’re willing to make a joke on his behalf like that. I’m assuming Brian isn’t going to be seeing him today?”

Kusnel shook his head. “Sephiroth and Zack Fair are staying in the mansion to take care of the monsters. If they do make an appearance at any point in the day…well, I don’t know if or when they would.”

“Well, if they do, I’ll have to invite them over for dinner before Lockhart can get his hands on those two.” Claudia smiled. “You as well, young man. I haven’t heard from my son in some time, since he left to join SOLDIER, so I’m looking forward to hearing something about him that lets me know he’s doing well.”

Kunsel wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to tell Claudia Strife _anything_ about her son. Cloud’s situation wasn’t exactly normal, not anymore.

“Don’t let me keep you in town forever. I’d recommend getting Tifa away from her father before he starts trying to climb the mansion’s outer wall to get a picture of those SOLDIERs.” Claudia gave Kunsel a wink and a nod, and oh, was he already thinking about sitting down with her and learning the secrets this town had. Clearly, the mayor was not someone she liked, and as curious as he was to know why, he was sure _she_ was curious about what Cloud had gotten himself into.

Maybe trading the gossip of the entire town for information on Cloud might be enough. Getting her to see him now might be too much, but letting at least _some_ things out would probably be better.

“Any advice for the trip before we go?” Kunsel asked.

“Just keep a level head and listen to the girl. Despite not being the _best_ at climbing the mountain, she knows how to handle the beasts that walk it.” Claudia motioned for them to go after Tifa, then walked away from the water tower herself.

“A witch woman?” one of the troopers asked as soon as Claudia was out of earshot.

“If she is, then I’m glad she was able to share that much.” Kunsel squared his shoulders and strode over to where Tifa and Lockhart were standing. “Sir, if you’ll excuse us. We should be going, and we can’t afford to wait for too much longer.”

Lockhart turned sharply, one hand on the camera hanging around his neck. “Do you know when the other SOLDIERs will be done in the mansion?”

Kunsel shrugged. “They didn’t say. As long as it takes, probably. You can ask for a picture with us when we leave, sir; time is of the essence right now. We don’t want the reactor to blow up, now do we?”

Lockhart gained a worried expression for a moment, then nodded. “Right. I hope I can catch you before you go.”

“I doubt we will be leaving for another day or so.” Kunsel nodded to Tifa. “Shall we, guide?”

Tifa nodded. “Come on. I hope you’re ready for the climb up Mt. Nibel.”

\----

If Nibelheim was cold, Mt. Nibel was _frigid._ Kunsel was amazed that Tifa could stand walking around in this in just a short skirt and short sleeves.

“You are really used to the cold up here!” Kunsel marveled as they reached a rope bridge. “I didn’t think anyone could walk around in a getup like that in weather like this.”

Tifa laughed. “I’m not as used to it as some people are. There used to be a boy in the village who would climb up into the mountain daily and come down with monster parts.” Her expression sobered slightly. “He left some time ago, though. We haven’t heard anything from him since he left for Midgar.”

“I noticed that there weren’t any boys in the village,” Kunsel replied. “Was he the only other child in the village?”

Tifa shook her head. “No, he…we weren’t alone. But I don’t have many friends who were girls.” She frowned at the bridge. “We’re going to have to be careful here. It looks like the bridge has seen some wear since I was here. Watch your step.”

Kunsel nodded and gave the troopers with him a pointed look through his helmet. “We’ll take the bridge one at a time.”

“Sir!” The troopers stepped back from the bridge, ready to let him cross it with Tifa first.

“But don’t stay in one place for long,” Tifa added. “We’re going to run into monsters on the way up from here.”

“The creatures in the woods weren’t monsters?” One of the troopers pointed back at the pine trees that lined the path they’d taken out of the village.

“They’re used to humans and won’t bother you if you don’t bother them.” Tifa tested the rope railings before starting forward slowly. The ropes and the wood planks that formed the walkway creaked and groaned under her footsteps. “The wolf packs aren’t friendly enough to be made into pets, but they won’t bother you if you go foraging. They make for good stews, though. Mrs. Strife always has extra meat on hand for that.”

“She hunts them?”

“Mhm.” Tifa looked back as Kunsel stood at the end of the bridge. “You’re really curious about Nibelheim. Why is that?”

“I didn’t grow up in a small village this far north, so a lot of what you do up here is new to me.”

“Where did you grow up, then?”

“Nowhere special. It’s not remote like Nibelheim or Gongaga, but I wouldn’t exactly call it bustling, either.” Kunsel started to step onto the rope bridge. Tifa was about halfway across now, and he figured if it could hold her weight there, it could probably hold him too. “Sorry if I seem too probing about this – I like learning information about different parts of the continents, and hearing it from people gives me an interesting perspective.”

“Are all SOLDIERs like that?”

“Just me.” Kunsel chuckled. Talking was a good distraction from the way the rope bridge was creaking under him. Tifa was almost to the other side, so he was going to have to take deep breaths and hopefully nothing would be attracted by the bridge’s noise. Or their conversation. “It’s nice, though. It means everyone comes to me if they want to know about something, and I know how to get information, even when some people don’t want to tell me.”

“Stuff like what?” Tifa reached the end of the bridge and stood near one of the bridge supports. She didn’t have anything that glinted of metal in her hands, so she was probably planning on giving the bridge some extra support with her own strength until everyone got across.

“Why don’t you ask me and find out?”

Tifa frowned at the question. “What kind of things can I ask you?”

“Oh, anything.” Kunsel felt a plank give slightly under his feet and picked up the pace a little. “There are some things I can’t answer because they’re top secret, but so long as you don’t ask me about what the company does that isn’t _public,_ I can answer it.”

Kunsel saw Tifa nod slightly out of the corner of his eye. Most of his focus was on the boards under him, as he was now halfway across the bridge, and he didn’t want to make anything snap by accident. The wood had aged terribly because of the cold weather up here, not to mention the state that the ropes were in. He wouldn’t be surprised if the entire thing decided to fray quickly between when they got up to the reactor and when they came back down.

“…do you know a lot of people there?”

“Some. I don’t tend to socialize with everyone enough to know their names, but if they’re someone a friend knows and talks about a lot, I’ll probably know them on sight.”

Or know to look for them, in Cloud’s case. He hadn’t seen him until he’d looked at the trooper’s personal file, and even then, he’d needed Zack to confirm that the spiky-haired young man in the mako tank was the trooper he’d spent time with in Modeoheim.

Tifa nodded. “I’m…I’m wondering if…oh, it’s stupid. You probably wouldn’t know him.”

“Try me.” Kunsel was almost to the edge of the bridge. He could hear the wood and rope creaking behind him as one of the troopers started to follow after him. “I know more than you probably think I do.”

Tifa frowned.

Kunsel’s feet hit solid ground when Tifa finally asked, “Someone left here a couple years ago, and I haven’t heard from him since then. He…I haven’t seen him in any of the papers, and he said he was going to get into SOLDIER and make himself famous.”

Not entirely the best goal to have when joining a military force, but kids joined Shinra young. Not all of them had the best of ideas for their future at that point, much less an idea of what they were getting into.

“I’m…I’m wondering if you’ve seen him? He’s got blue eyes and blond hair, and he’s about my height.” Tifa looked up at Kunsel with a frown. “His name’s Cloud.”

As if the description didn’t give him away. So Tifa _was_ a childhood friend.

Kunsel was going to have to keep at least some of the past events hidden. “Cloud, huh? That’s an unusual name. I think there’s only one person that I’ve heard of who could fit that description. Sounds like he’s Zack’s friend.”

“Zack?”

“The black-haired SOLDIER who went with Sephiroth into the mansion.” The bridge was creaking behind him, and a trooper was making somewhat nervous noises as he slowly walked over it. Kunsel stepped away from the bridge, Tifa’s eyes following after him. “They met on a mission some time ago, and it sounds like they hit it off pretty well. I haven’t had a chance to meet Cloud yet, though.”

Especially since Cloud was currently unconscious from mako poisoning. Getting him to a doctor for treatment after all this was going to be difficult, especially if Shinra’s scientists had let Cloud get into this predicament in the first place.

Maybe Mideel…?

“He’s making friends, huh?” A small smile crossed Tifa’s face. “That’s good.”

The comment made Kunsel raise an eyebrow. “Were you worried about that?”

Tifa looked up in surprise. “Oh, no! I-it’s just—it’s just that he got into fights a lot, when he was younger. It made it hard for me to convince everyone else to be friends with him.”

“Really?” That would be important information to know, later. “I’ll have to ask Zack how he’s doing when we get back, and see if he’s aware of whether or not Cloud has been having trouble recently.”

The trooper’s file _had_ said something about him rubbing some people the wrong way, but not everyone. The people he spent time with were usually members of his squad, if he was out with people. He wasn’t noted for having that much of a social life.

_I don’t know if spending time with **Sephiroth** will be good for him, but at least Zack will help him have more of a social life._

“Y-you don’t need to!” Tifa yelped as one of the troopers finally crossed. “I-it’s – I don’t want to be too much of a bother, and I don’t know how Cloud would feel about it if he found out I’d checked in on him. Can…can you keep this conversation a secret from him? Please?”

Kunsel chuckled. “Don’t worry, I won—”

Something in the air screamed loudly, cutting Kunsel’s promise off. He whirled sharply to face the sound, reaching for his short sword and his gun in the same moment.

Three winged green things were zipping down towards the bridge at high speed. Kunsel thought at first they were aiming for him, but then he saw where they were really going.

“Get down!” Kunsel yelled at the trooper on the bridge. He threw a hand out, and lighting arched from the materia in his bracer, hitting one of the creatures with enough force to send it into one of its fellows.

The two monsters tumbled from the air as the third turned to fly towards Kunsel and Tifa, shrieking in anger. The trooper on the bridge yelped as the other two monsters fell towards him, their flight patterns out of control.

“Take care of them!” Kunsel yelled at the other trooper as he charged the lightning materia again. Electricity arced from his bracer and slammed into the third creature that was flying at them. “Tifa, stay back!”

The monster took the lightning blow to the face, and screamed in pain as Kunsel drew his short sword with his other hand and caught the monster in the jaw when it got close enough to him.

The blade of his weapon wasn’t strong enough to cut through this monster’s flesh, which surprised him a little. It dug its claws into his arm in retaliation, but another burst of lightning sent it tumbling back into the abyss.

At the same time, the whip-crack of a rope snapping resounded over the sound of the other trooper screaming. Kunsel couldn’t get to where he was in time, much less to the bridge; it fell, along with the two winged monsters and the trooper, disappearing into the mists below.

Tifa sucked in a breath sharply, turning pale as the trooper who’d survived his trek across the bridge backed into the cliff wall behind them. “Oh, no….”

Kunsel looked at the claw marks on his arm and watched as the wounds left by the monster sealed up slowly. He’d lost some blood from that, but not enough to feel lightheaded.

A part of him hoped that SOLDIERs could heal quickly because of the mako and not because of whatever it was that Zack and Sephiroth were having problems with.

He peered over the edge. “Tifa, how far down is—”

“He-he’ll be lucky if he survives that drop.” Tifa pulled back from the edge, looking as pale as the other trooper was under his helmet. Something about her expression seemed haunted.

Kunsel looked between her and the abyss, then sighed and stepped back from the edge. “Is there a way down from here that _doesn’t_ involve dropping the distance he did?”

Tifa was breathing rather shakily. Kunsel assumed she was going into a shock of some kind and was going to need a few minutes. “There’s a cave system in Mt. Nibel that leads down there, and another one that leads back up to the cliff on the other side.”

“Good.” Kunsel looked to the other trooper, then back to Tifa. “Is the path straightforward?”

“S-somewhat.”

“Then take him down to the base.” Kunsel nodded to the other trooper, who stiffened in surprise. “Do either of you know how to use materia?”

The trooper and Tifa exchanged looks.

“Some?” Tifa frowned. “Not…not that much, though.”

“We haven’t had training in it,” the trooper said. “Are you—”

Kunsel popped the Cure out of his bracer. “Take this with you. If you can save him, then do it. I’ll wait just inside the cave entrance at this level of the mountain, and we’ll continue our trek up after you’re done restoring him.” He paused. “Actually, it might be better if you all went back to Nibelheim, and I continued the trek on my own. One person treading lightly is less likely to get a monster’s attention.”

That snapped Tifa out of her shocked daze. “What? No! You don’t know the cave system as well as I do!” She frowned at him and put her hands on her hips. “I’m still coming with you.”

“Then guide him down to the base and show him the way back to Nibelheim.” Kunsel nodded to the trooper. “Make sure to use the Cure materia as well, if you can. If he survived his fall, you’re going to need it.”

The trooper nodded and took the materia from Kunsel’s open hand. “I’ll wait for you at the hotel, sir.”

“You had better not go any further,” Tifa said warningly.

Kunsel raised his hands in response. “I won’t. I promise.”

Tifa eyed him with a serious frown for a long moment, then nodded. “The caves are over here. Don’t go too deep into them alone; there are things that live in there, too.”

That drew a sigh from Kunsel. “Why am I not surprised?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, at least the bridge bit went a little better than last time. With any luck, they won't lose any troopers on this mission.
> 
> But we'll have to wait and see on what happens after.


	32. Kunsel's Mountain Excursion, part 2

Kunsel leaned back against the cave wall as he waited for Tifa to come back. Thankfully, there weren’t any monsters in the caves nearby for the moment, which meant that he could mull over the things that Tifa had said as they were crossing the bridge that no longer crossed the abyss.

Cloud, clearly, was someone that she remembered. Judging from the conversation with Claudia Strife before they’d left Nibelheim, he’d known the caves in Mt. Nibel really well, as well as the surrounding forest. It was likely that he didn’t get along too well with the other children in the town, if Tifa was concerned about whether or not he was making friends.

If he wasn’t good at making friends, how could he make friends with Tifa? It was clear that their parents were not friends. Some animosity likely existed in the family, or at least between the mayor and Cloud’s mother, but it might not have carried over into their children.

 _It’d be better if she didn’t find out about where Cloud is right at this moment._ Kunsel’s mouth twisted at the thought. _She’s expecting him to come home a member of SOLDIER, not lying comatose from mako poisoning. We’ll keep her in the dark for as long as possible._

“You are Kunsel?”

It wasn’t so much the voice as it was the presence that came with it that made Kunsel jump. A monster was bleeding from the shadows, red and black with glints of gold, and it made a chill run up Kunsel’s spine that he hadn’t felt from any monster before.

“I, uh –” Kunsel stared at the black-haired man wearing a tattered red cloak and a gold, clawed gauntlet. “Yes, I’m Kunsel.” He rested a hand against the hilt of his short sword. “Why are you looking for me? Who are you?”

“My name is Vincent. Sephiroth said you would require assistance in destroying the monster in the reactor.”

“Monster?” Kunsel blinked, then frowned. “You mean the thing that’s attacking them.”

The man inclined his head slightly. “You weren’t aware that it was in the reactor.”

“I knew it was attacking them. I didn’t know where it was.” Kunsel kept his hand on his weapon. “Where did you _come_ from? I searched that mansion and didn’t see any sign of anyone living there.”

“I was not.”

“So you’re a walking corpse of a man. Great. I hope Zack and Sephiroth didn’t sic a monster on me by accident.”

Vincent didn’t so much as smirk, but Kunsel could tell that the statement had been found amusing. There was something about the way his red eyes shifted and the way his hand twitched that seemed familiar. Like he’d seen someone else do that before when he’d mentioned a joke in passing.

“I will not say that you are wrong,” Vincent said. “How much do you know?”

“About Zack and Sephiroth? If you came from them and know about the monster in their heads, then you learned that from them.” Kunsel frowned. “Unless Hojo sent you.”

“I doubt that he is aware I am still alive. I _am_ a walking corpse.”

“Point taken.” Kunsel nodded. “I know the monster’s name, that it wiped out the Ancients, and that Shinra’s been using it in the SOLDIER program after Sephiroth was born. I apparently don’t have enough of it in me to have it start attacking me the same way it’s been attacking them, so I’m not going to get any headaches the closer we get to…whatever this thing is. How do you know it’s in the reactor?”

“Sephiroth pinpointed the direction it was coming from.”

“Huh. Hope that doesn’t mean it’s getting to sink its teeth in. I bet you're here to help me take it down before it does.”

Vincent shifted. His eyes seemed to become more calculating at the comment, and Kunsel started to get an idea of where he had seen that look before.

“Turks never give up on family, right? I’m guessing they didn’t know you were even up here.”

Vincent stiffened.

“Director Veld gets a similar look on his face when he finds somebody interesting.” Kunsel didn’t lift his hand from his sword, but he extended his other hand. “I’m the current Rumor.”

Vincent’s eyes widened slightly, but he regained his composure quickly. “I see. That explains a great deal.”

Kunsel nodded, then tilted his head. It sounded like there were footsteps coming up the stairs. Judging by how Vincent’s eyes moved, he’d heard them, too. “I’ve got a guide who knows the cave system leading me up the mountain to the reactor. She doesn’t know you’re here.”

“Then she will continue to not know I am here.” Vincent stepped back and disappeared into the shadows against the cave wall, and Tifa turned a corner in the tunnel and came to a stop next to Kunsel.

“Glad to see you didn’t leave and got yourself lost,” Tifa said. “And that nothing attacked you while I was gone.”

“I stayed quiet and didn’t make myself threatening,” Kunsel replied. Being a SOLDIER probably helped some, too – maybe they sensed the amount of mako in him and decided to leave him alone. “They’re okay?”

“We barely got to him in time. They’re heading back to town now.” Tifa held up the Cure materia. “This was pretty strong, by the way.”

“Good.” Kunsel nodded. “If there are more flying monsters like that further up the mountain, I don’t want them getting in the way.” He took the Cure back and slid it into his bracer. “They could end up getting hurt badly by the monsters that run around on your mountain.”

“It’s not _my_ mountain, but I know what you mean. Do you think you can handle them, though?”

“I’m a SOLDIER, it’s what I do.” Kunsel tapped his sword’s hilt. “Let’s get moving. That reactor may not be going anywhere, but the problems inside it certainly could be.”

Tifa nodded, then turned and started up the carved tunnels. Kunsel followed after her, and he didn’t need to look back to know that Vincent was following after _him._

A part of him wanted to ask who Vincent was, to have the same mannerisms as Director Veld, but he wasn’t going to ask that now. Not with a guide ignorant of Shinra’s inner workings leading them to their destination.

“What kind of creature makes these tunnels?” Kunsel asked.

“Acid dragons,” Tifa replied.

“Acid _dragons?”_

“They nest in here when night falls, and they hunt the mountain range at dusk and dawn, usually. They’re why I said we have to make sure not to spend too much time on the mountain – they could see _us_ as prey if they come back and find us hanging around.”

Kunsel winced. “And you live with these things so close to the village?”

“They’re not…usually that bad? They’ve always got a nest or two in the tunnels, near the heart of the mountain, but this year there’s more of them than usual. You can take care of that when you’re done with the reactor, right?”

“I’m definitely not against it.” _And it would get Zack and Sephiroth out of the mansion, once the source of the mental attacks has been handled. It will be very good for them to get some energy burned off, instead of reading Hojo’s twisted words until we leave._

That thought made Kunsel sober up slightly. When they _left_ Nibelheim…what was going to happen? Hojo was no doubt expecting a reaction from Zack and Sephiroth, since he knew about what Jenova _was,_ and they weren’t exactly keen on returning to the people who had willingly done this to them, either.

Kunsel could go back, but he already knew more than he probably was supposed to for a SOLDIER, much less a SOLDIER who acted as the Turk’s inside man. They probably weren’t expecting _anyone_ to come back from this mission, otherwise they would have sent other SOLDIERs to deal with the monster problem, and kept Zack and Sephiroth to handle AVALANCHE.

Just the thought of _that_ terrorist mess happening in Midgar right now made Kunsel a little relieved that he didn’t have to deal with anything that action heavy at the moment. Gathering information and debating whether or not to leave Shinra was much less physically intensive than chasing people across the city. It was no less exhausting, but at least he wouldn’t feel physically sore when he came to a decision.

“How much longer do you estimate we’ll be in the tunnels for?” Kunsel asked.

“An hour or so, at least,” Tifa called back. “It won’t take us long.”

Kunsel nodded. At least he had some time to come up with a plan as to how to take Jenova out of commission.

\----

There were more monsters on the way up to the reactor, but fortunately they weren’t that difficult to deal with. Like Tifa had said, there weren’t any acid dragons _currently_ in the caves, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any signs of them. Kunsel quickly spotted where their melting acid breath had carved through the rock in order to make some of these tunnels.

_If their acid breath is that strong, I don’t want to put myself in firing range. Using magic will definitely keep me at a safe distance._

“Whelp, here we are!” Tifa stepped out of the cave exit and motioned for Kunsel to follow her. He felt Vincent dash past and into a collection of shadows created by a nearby cliff face. “The reactor’s right over there.” Tifa pointed at the building ahead of them. “If it looks a little beat up, it’s because of the monsters that live around here.”

“I figured. Nibelheim as a whole doesn’t seem to be the kind of place to rely on it all that much.” Kunsel started for the walkway that led up to the entrance. “Can I trust you to stay put out here and not go in?”

“Why not?” Tifa frowned. “I guided you all this say up here. Why can’t I have a look around?”

“Because the reactor could have something dangerous in it, and I don’t want to see you getting hurt because you snuck in.” Kunsel frowned at Tifa, although she couldn’t see it because of his helmet. “Stay out here. If a monster shows up, run inside and call for me, but don’t go any further than the entrance unless you _have_ to. I don’t want to accidentally expose you to mako radiation, or a mako-radiated monster’s nest.”

Tifa hesitated at Kunsel’s words, then nodded slightly. “Okay. But I can handle myself in a fight, you don’t need to worry about me.”

“I might not, but I’m pretty sure there are other people who do.”

_Cloud, for one._

Kunsel turned and started back up to the reactor’s entrance again, leaving Tifa to think things over and hopefully _not_ sneak in after him. He could have asked the healthy trooper to stay behind, but then the one who had become weakened by his drop from the bridge wouldn’t have had anyone to help him back to Nibelheim.

If Vincent was at least at his back and keeping an eye out, that at least meant there were still three people up here.

The reactor was small, and eerily quiet, compared to Mt. Nibel. Outside, at least there were the occasional sounds of the local monsters scrabbling on the rock or shrieking at each other. Here, there was nothing but the sound of machinery.

It was eerie, to put it lightly.

“Let’s see what kind of secrets this reactor could be hiding.”

“You will likely need to go deep inside before you will find your answer.”

Kunsel remembered not to jump this time. “You’re pretty impressive, to be able to sneak past someone when you have very few hiding places.”

“Hm.” Vincent moved ahead of Kunsel, expression guarded. If he was feeling amused or annoyed by the comment, he didn’t show it. “I would assume you have similar techniques.”

“Not as advanced as what the older Turks know. Just the basics. I’m supposed to be the guy they come to if there’s a rumor going around, not the guy they come to if they want me to sneak into President Shinra’s office and wiretap everything he has.”

“Hm.” That seemed to bring out a little more of Vincent’s amusement, but not by much. If any Turks were hard to read, it would be Tseng, Veld, and _this_ guy, whoever he had been before Hojo had apparently gotten his hands on him.

The amusement was gone from Vincent’s face before it had a chance to settle in. “We have a mission here. Standing and talking will not help.”

Kunsel frowned deeply, and he nodded. “Right. Where do you suggest we go? This reactor isn’t as big as the ones in Midgar, but it’s probably got enough tunnels in it to turn me around if I don’t know where I’m going.”

Vincent’s gaze moved slightly. He gave a short nod, and started walking towards a doorway that led deeper into the reactor. “It will likely be closer to the core of the reactor.”

“To have easier access to the mako.”

Vincent didn’t need to answer to confirm Kunsel’s suspicion. The eerie feeling of the reactor was more than enough of a confirmation that the reactor wasn’t built to create energy from the mako that flowed under the planet’s surface. If there was anything dangerous in the reactor, it would be closer to its core.

The eerie feeling only compounded when they stepped through the doorway and entered a red-tinted room filled with large pod-like structures. A staircase cut through the middle of them, leading up to a doorway at the back of the room.

“There’s our problem.” Kunsel’s eyes narrowed at the word “JENOVA” that sat over the top of the doorway. “If we get rid of the thing on the other side, Zack and Sephiroth should stop having headaches.” He looked at Vincent. “Are you prepared for a fight?”

“Worry about yourself more than you are about me,” Vincent replied.

Kunsel snorted. “I hope that means a walking corpse can fight.” He checked his bracers again, then walked up to one of the pods and peered through the port hole. “We might as well know what’s in these before – Odin’s beard!”

Kunsel pulled back sharply as Vincent moved to investigate the pod himself. Kunsel’s eyes were wide under his helmet, and when Vincent looked back at him with a dark expression, it was easy to see why.

“Humanoid monsters.” Kunsel swallowed. “They’re bathing in mako tanks, like SOLDIERs do for the more potent mako injections, but…it’s likely they’re _all_ mutating, and not just the few that don’t respond well to—”

He cut himself off and breathed in sharply. Vincent’s gaze flicked between the pod and the door ahead of them, then back to Kunsel.

“They’ve likely all been injected with Jenova cells, haven’t they?” Kunsel looked in another pod and found the same as the first: a human who was slowly mutating into a monster. “And a higher dosage than what SOLDIERs are exposed to…we need to take care of the monster they’re pulling this from, before anyone else suffers like this.”

“Putting them out of their misery would be a mercy,” Vincent agreed. “But first, the source should be removed.” He turned and walked up the stairs towards the door. Kunsel hesitated for only a moment before following after him.

“As much as I would like to blow up the entire reactor and erase this from existence, it would probably be better if the reactor was still standing,” Kunsel said as he caught up to Vincent. “We don’t want more people investigating Nibelheim, not after this. They shouldn’t have to be pulled into problems that were never theirs to begin with.”

“We will need to make sure that Shinra does not know—”

“I think they’ll have a pretty good idea, when we don’t go back. Or, at least when Zack and Sephiroth don’t.”

Vincent turned away from the keypad next to the door. It slid open with the sound of shifting metal. “You intend to abandon them?”

Kunsel could tell Vincent’s mind was going in another direction. “Just Shinra. There are good people in there still, but staying there isn’t going to do us any good. Definitely not if they’re doing things like this to people, and brought Zack and Sephiroth out here because Hojo wanted to use them as part of a science experiment.”

Vincent inclined his head. “You will stay in touch.”

“As best I can, given the circumstances. It’s not like I can just outright abandon the Turks.” Kunsel grinned. “I’m pretty sure that after everything, we _still_ owe each other a few favors because of my rumor mills.”

 _That_ was something Vincent found amusing, judging by the flicker of a smile that crossed his face for a moment. “They chose well.”

“I sure hope they did.” Kunsel looked over at the pod again, then the open door leading into a large chamber beyond. “Let’s end this monster.”

The room they stepped into was filled with pipes, with a large pool of mako down below them. The pipes didn’t lead down into the mako, however – they led to a construct on the other side of the chamber.

Kunsel shook his head at the metal statue of a woman with outstretched wings, and the mako tank that sat behind it. “What kind of person builds something like that?” He stepped forward onto the pipe that stretched from the entrance to the monstrous metal sight on the other side. “That thing’s probably where Jenova is. It doesn’t look like a monster, just a construct of one.”

Vincent followed after him. “It could be contained within it.”

“If it is, then I’ll just use Lightning to make chinks in the armor and we’ll work on things from there.” Kunsel unsheathed his short sword as he reached the metal construct. “It’s not moving to attack, that’s a good thing. It could be distracted by attempting to attack Zack and….hang on….”

“What is it?” Vincent stepped up behind him.

“In the mako tank.” Kunsel moved around the metal construct, being careful about where his feet moved on the pipe. Stepping around the construct didn’t leave that much room for a foothold. “It looks like there’s something floating in it.”

“Careful.” Vincent stepped up behind him. “Jenova could be—”

“I don’t think it’s going to be doing anything, if it’s just a head.” Kunsel walked up to the mako tank, frowning at the woman’s head that was suspended by pipes inside. If the fact that it was _just_ a head wasn't unnerving enough, the blue skin, silver hair, and blank, staring eyes merely added to the creep factor. At least this explained where Sephiroth's silver hair came from. “Unless it can heal quickly, but it doesn’t look like it’s doing that right now.”

Kunsel spun his sword in one hand and contemplated the mako tank. “Better get it out of there and burn it up so that _nothing’s_ left behind.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, Kunsel...you're missing most of the problem, if only the head currently remains in that tank...
> 
> Writing these two interacting was really fun.


	33. Going Up in Smoke

_-Sons! SONS! **Sephiroth, come to-- -**_

Jenova’s most recent screaming session was cut off abruptly with a loud screech that rattled through their minds, despite the thick barrier that sat between them and her.

 ** _-What the hell just happened? Did something….-_** Their train of thought trailed off as they considered their options. **_-Jenova’s presence came from the reactor. It makes sense that, if Kunsel and Vincent went to the reactor, that its attention on us would be cut off abruptly. Especially if they found a way to destroy it. That likely means we can separate from each other-_**

Zack and Sephiroth closed their eyes and attempted to pull back from each other. They knew they were two separate people. They had been before spending an entire night and almost a day merged together, thinking in sync despite their bodies moving in two different directions, doing different things.

**“Come on, come on….”**

Pulling and pushing at the connection felt harder than it had before, more difficult. Something about being in sync _wanted_ them to stay in sync, but they couldn’t. It _wasn’t_ right.

**“Rrrgggh….”**

Zack rubbed the side of his head as they separated, physically pulling back from Sephiroth as much as he was mentally. “That was…that was harder than I was expecting.”

Sephiroth grunted and shook his head as he did the same. “If we merge again, for any length of time, we likely won’t be able to pull apart again.”

“Yeah. Hopefully we won’t get in range of that _thing_ again. I don’t want to be stuck pulled together and unable to pull apart like that. I’ve got my own thoughts to think, and it’s weird to have to make _you_ think them, too.”

“I will not deny that the sensation is…unnerving.” Sephiroth glanced at Cloud, propped up against one of the bookshelves in Hojo’s basement. “And it will continue to be unnerving, so long as Cloud is unable to make his presence known as a separate entity from the two of us.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” Zack pushed himself away from the bookshelf behind him. “Well, we’ve dug through everything that Hojo left behind. I’d say that it confirms he’s a sick, twisted man, and I’m not gonna get within shouting range of him, or else I’m gonna cut his head off before he can ask about ‘ _how Reunion went.’_ ” He sneered at the thought. “Just…yeesh. I knew he was bad, but this was even worse. I don’t know about you, but this is the last straw. I don’t want to go back to Shinra if they keep pulling shit like this.”

“In that, we are in agreement.” Sephiroth nodded. “And we have the Turks watching Aerith, and likely will be able to remove her from Midgar at the earliest opportunity.”

Zack nodded in agreement. “All we gotta do is meet up with Kunsel and Vincent and get out of Nibelheim. The Turk probably knows ways to make it look like we’re dead. Ya know, cover our tracks and stuff.”

“I have no doubt in that, but his methods may be archaic in comparison to what is currently available to the Turks and their abilities.”

“Hey – anything’s better than nothing at this point.” Zack shrugged. “So, how long do you think it’s going to take for them to get back?”

“A few hours at most, I imagine. Climbing down from a mountain is going to be far better than climbing up. The incline will be working with them this time, rather than against them.”

Zack nodded and looked over at Cloud, over the piles of books they had scattered in every direction. “We should find someone to look after Cloud, too. I dunno about you, but I don’t know how to handle someone who’s mako poisoned. Especially when it’s at the back of my head, too.”

Cloud didn’t so much as twitch as their attention turned to him. His eyes were unfocused, just like his mind.

“Hojo’s notes will be useless to us on curing Cloud’s mako poisoning.” Sephiroth picked up one of the files that had been sitting on one of the stacks. “This might prove useful to the Turks, however.”

“What do you mean?”

“The family name of the subject of this experiment.” Sephiroth held the file to Zack. “It’s the same family name as the current director of the Turks.”

“Veld?” Zack grabbed the file and looked over its contents. His eyebrows shot to his hairline. “Whoa. Yeah, okay, we’ll make sure he gets this and then we’re staying out of Shinra.”

“Where would you recommend we stay in order to remain ‘out of Shinra’?” Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. “I can feel your train of thought still, Zack. I will be able to see through any statement you give me if you do not believe it.”

“Yeah, yeah….” Zack rubbed the back of his head, frowning. “Well, Midgar’d only work if we could hide, but that’s hard to do because that’s Shinra HQ. I don’t wanna hide here, either. Nibelheim’s small, and we’re gonna be noticed.”

Sephiroth nodded. “Go on.”

“We could hide in Wutai, but as much as it’s gonna be the last place they’d look for _us,_ but the _people_ of Wutai are gonna find us and try to kill us. It’s not like we can hide someone with silver hair.” Zack motioned to Sephiroth’s hair, as though that was proof enough. “Your hair’s gonna make it really hard to hide, Sephiroth.”

“I am aware of that,” Sephiroth replied evenly. “I am not eager to change it.”

“Well, we might have to.” Zack ran a hand through his own hair. “I’ll probably have to cut mine…and I’d been looking forward to letting it grow out, too.”

Why he’d wanted it grown out didn’t need to be said, and the expression on Sephiroth’s face softened. “Perhaps growing it out will keep you hidden better. You will be noticed if your hair starts growing back and it appears….” He motioned vaguely.

Zack snorted. “Spiky? Yeah, I guess so. Wonder what Cloud’s hair will look like if it grows out. That’d probably hide him pretty well, too.” He paused, tilting his head. “Think we could go to Mideel and hide out there, at least until Cloud recovers? We could…I dunno, dye your hair if you don’t want to cut it. Or vice versa.”

Sephiroth frowned. “My hair cannot hold dye well. Cutting it would be a better option.” He hesitated. “However, I am…reluctant, to do so.”

“Why’s—” Zack paused. “Does it have something to do with Hojo?”

Sephiroth didn’t need to say anything in order to answer. Zack could feel where his train of thought was going.

_-It was the one thing about myself that I could control, rather than Hojo-_

Zack winced. “Okay. Maybe put it up or something…we’ll think of something. We’ve got time before they get back.”

\----

Vincent came back to the mansion to find Zack, Cloud, and Sephiroth on the second floor, in the room Cloud had been left alone in the night before.

“Hey.” Zack raised a hand. “Did it go well?”

“We only found the monster’s head in the reactor.” Vincent stepped into the destroyed bedroom, frowning. “If there are more parts of her that exist, they are not here.”

“You think there are more pieces of her scattered elsewhere.” Sephiroth’s eyes narrowed.

“Hojo is not without contingencies.”

“Then he was _expecting_ us to do what we did. Tch.” Zack looked over at Cloud. “This is bad. We need to get out of here before he sends someone after us.”

“Where would you suggest?” Vincent asked.

“You’re the Turk, don’t you guys have safe houses or something?”

“If we do, they’re compromised by being associated with Shinra,” Vincent replied. “I have been asleep for almost twenty years, according to your SOLDIER friend. Anything I know of the world is…out of date.”

“Great,” Zack muttered, deadpan.

“Where is Kunsel?” Sephiroth asked.

“Making sure that his guide up the mountain won’t follow him here. He will be here soon enough.”

“Good. We can discuss options when he arrives.”

Vincent inclined his head.

“Kunsel’s a good source of information,” Zack said. “If he knows of _any_ spot that’d be a good hiding place, it’d be him.”

“So, even the SOLDIERs make use of Rumor…hm.” Vincent nodded. “Very well.” He approached Cloud as he lay on his bed. “No change in your third?”

“None.” Sephiroth frowned. “His presence is still unfocused as well. If he is aware of what is going on, he hasn’t made it known to us.”

“He will need medical attention.”

“Most who know to deal with mako work for Shinra,” Sephiroth replied.

“Finding someone we can trust is gonna be tough enough,” Zack said. “Hiding _him_ is gonna be harder.” He motioned to Sephiroth’s hair and barely winced at the annoyed mental jab that Sephiroth sent in retaliation.

“Something to discuss when Kunsel arrives,” Vincent replied. “We have time before you are expected to report, I assume?”

“For now. They will likely expect a report in the morning.” Sephiroth inclined his head slightly. “It is likely that they will be expecting Kunsel, or one of the troopers to make the report.”

“Rumor will be capable of covering the report to our satisfaction,” Vincent replied evenly.

“Rumor?” Zack frowned.

“Kunsel,” Sephiroth guessed. “I had wondered if the Turks were working with him.”

“It is common for Turks to have someone on the inside,” Vincent said evenly. “It is a good way to keep either side up to date on important information.”

“Which leads to the question of whether the Turks planted Kunsel, or the other way around?” Sephiroth inclined his head at Vincent.

Vincent shook his head. “Rumor is a title offered to those who would work as good points of information gathering. Some become Turks in all but name, but not all. There was one in every department, when I was in Shinra.”

“I’m the only Rumor right now, so far as I’m aware.” Kunsel appeared in the bedroom door, weapons and materia still equipped from his trip up Mt. Nibel. “I’m the only one they need, really.”

“I find that doubtful.”

“You haven’t been back at Shinra for a long time. You don’t know what’s changed between now and then.”

Zack snapped his fingers. “Speaking of Shinra – we gotta find a place to hide out.”

Kunsel tiled his head. “So you _are_ leaving them.”

“It sounds like they could have more parts of Jenova somewhere, and I dunno about you, but I don’t want to be exposed to that _bitch_ any more than we already were.”

Kunsel tilted his head, then nodded. “That’s fair.”

Zack snorted.

“The question now remains, where can we become capable of hiding,” Sephiroth said. “Our options are more than likely to be limited.”

“You’re going to be recognized on sight; of course they’re limited.” Kunsel motioned to Sephiroth. “Disguising you would offer you more options; as it is, not even a functioning backwater town like Corel or Nibelhiem will be able to hide you well.”

“We can change clothes and do temporary stuff to our hair to hide if we gotta,” Zack said.

“Then your voices and personalities would give you away if you’re not too careful.” Kunsel’s gaze moved to Cloud. “And Cloud’s not going to be that easy to hide.”

Zack and Sephiroth exchanged looks, frowning.

Vincent frowned at Cloud. “We have time to sit and discuss this, until you are expected to give some semblance of a report and return, I assume. Get me a map.”

Kunsel looked at Vincent, startled. “A Turk safe house?”

Vincent shook his head. “I need to know what has changed since I was placed in that coffin. Turk safe houses will be compromised by being connected to Shinra. We need a place they will not expect anyone to be at.”

“I think I saw a globe downstairs,” Zack spoke up.

“Get it.” Vincent nodded to him. “We will discuss options tonight.”

\----

“Banora!”

Kunsel and Vincent looked over at Zack at the sudden outburst.

“Banora?” Vincent repeated.

“A formerly Shinra-owned settlement,” Sephiroth explained. “It was the home of two SOLDIERs who…deserted, recently.”

Vincent raised an eyebrow.

“They bombed the place out when Genesis and Angeal showed up there and we couldn’t bring them back.” Zack frowned. “Considering everything that’s happened, I just wish we could’ve gotten them away from _Hollander._ He was about as bad as Shinra, since he came _from_ Shinra.”

“You’re suggesting you hide in a place that was destroyed by Shinra,” Kunsel said flatly. “A countryside that’s nothing more than craters and burned-down dumbapple trees. There probably isn’t anywhere to hide out there.”

“Better than Corel,” Zack shot back. “We’ve been talking about this for hours, guys. Any town we go to is gonna be bad news for us if we slip up even once. At least, in _Banora,_ there’s no one else there to get caught in the crossfire.”

The others exchanged looks over Cloud’s unconscious form.

“I admit, he’s got a point there.” Kunsel nodded slightly. “But that means there’s no one there who can give Cloud the medical attention he needs to recover from mako poisoning, or at the very least get the nutrients he needs to keep functioning.”

“We’ll figure something out.” Zack leaned forward, insistent. “And there’s no way Cloud’s gonna let himself die, either. He’s got a girl here to come back to, and there’s no way he’s gonna let the mako poisoning take him out for good. And _I’m_ not gonna let that happen to him, either.”

“We cannot function well if our third is trapped in mako’s haze,” Sephiroth agreed. “But we cannot take care of him alone.”

“You guys can take care of finding a doctor we can trust.” Zack motioned to Kunsel. “I mean, you don’t ever take that helmet off. Nobody’d know who you are if you walked around with the helmet off for an hour or two.”

“Hm.” Kunsel shrugged. “Maybe. Pretty sure the Turks would know, but anyone else certainly wouldn’t.”

“You do not want the Turks to see you,” Vincent said.

“If they do, they’d probably count it as making their owed favors even, if they don’t count me asking to take care of Aerith while we’re away from Midgar.” Kunsel shook his head slightly as Vincent raised an eyebrow. “I never asked them for much. Pooling all my favors into one or two big ones seemed a better idea than getting a lot of small ones.”

“You would do well as a Turk,” Vincent remarked.

“Not the first person to tell me that, and probably not gonna be the last one, either.” Kunsel shrugged. “So, you’re really set on Banora, Zack?”

“Best hiding place is the last place they’d look, and what better place than a town they blew up and left nothing behind but scorched earth?” Zack grinned. “We could probably find a cave or something out there to hide in out there, at least for a bit.”

“And how long do you think ‘a bit’ is?” Kunsel tilted his head.

Zack opened his mouth to answer, but he was cut off by the sound of a door slamming open downstairs.

“Kunsel!” a girl’s voice screamed. “Sephiroth! Help!”

“Tifa?” Kunsel rose from his spot on the floor and quickly moved to the open doorway as footsteps sounded against the wood below. “Tifa! What’s going on? You should know the mansion is still dangerous, no monsters or—”

“Someone’s setting fire to the town!” Tifa ran up the stairs to where Kunsel was poking his head out the door. “I need your help – please! It – it’s happening so fast, I—”

“Slow down.” Kunsel held up his hands as Zack rose to his feet. Sephiroth remained where he was sitting next to Cloud, but shifted his position so that he blocked more of him from Tifa’s view. “Who’s setting the town on fire? How far has it spread?”

“It just – just – houses started exploding! I don’t – they don’t – it’s gotta be materia, right? No way can our houses go up in flames that fast.” Tifa looked and sounded shaken. “But – but who would do something like this? And _why?_ ”

“Are the troopers all right?” Kunsel asked. “They could help—”

“The hotel went up first. A-and then my house, a-and Mrs. Strife’s house, and –”

“Okay, okay.” Kunsel looked back at the others. “You help me evacuate the survivors. The others can take care of tracking down the person or monster that did this, all right?”

“But—”

“Trust me. If this thing is blowing up houses, you’re not going to want to be anywhere near that fight.” Kunsel’s eyes narrowed. “Come on. Let’s get your friends and family out of here, before whatever is attacking the houses starts hitting people.”

Tifa hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Right. Yeah.”

Kunsel looked back at Zack. “I’m leaving the rest to you, all right?”

“No worries. We’ll take care of the thing that’s causing all this trouble, no problem!” Zack gave Kunsel a thumbs-up. “Let’s move!”

Kunsel nodded back, then guided Tifa away from the bedroom door and started down to the front door. Tifa followed after him, picking up her pace as Kunsel lengthened his stride.

Sephiroth leaned over to Vincent as Zack started after Kunsel and Tifa. “Take Cloud out of town a safe distance from here. We don’t want him getting hurt.”

Vincent nodded in response. “He will be in safe hands.”

Sephiroth nodded back, then followed Zack down the stairs and out the mansion.

The sight of all the buildings in Nibelheim being sent up in flames was _not_ what any of them wanted to see.

“What kind of monster does something like this?” Zack frowned as he walked up to the blown-open gate. It looked like it had been punched open. “Cloud never told me anything about a monster attacking the town like this. He mentioned dragons, but…..”

“Dragons that produce fire aren’t meant to live in cold climates like this.” Sephiroth stepped forward and past the gate. “Ironically, they don’t do well in the cold.” He watched Kunsel run towards one of the houses, Tifa towards another. “This attack was likely caused by a person.”

“Yeah, but _who?_ Someone from Shinra? A terrorist group?” Zack followed after Sephiroth, frowning as they looked around at the collapsing the buildings. “But this is a town out in the middle of nowhere! No way would anyone want to do anything out here unless they knew about what we know.”

“Which would potentially mean that our problem is going to be…what, going up to the reactor?” Zack frowned up at Sephiroth.

“Potentially.” Sephiroth moved closer to one of the buildings. The roof started collapsing in on itself as Tifa stood in front of it.

“Mrs. Strife!” Tifa yelled. “Mrs. Strife!”

Sephiroth’s gaze moved away from the collapsing building as Tifa started pulling rubble away from the doorway. His cat-eyed gaze sharpened when he saw something move along the path that led up from the village. “Zack.”

“What?”

“I believe our quarry is moving up the mountain.” Sephiroth started moving towards the path.

“Sephiroth!” Zack moved to catch up. “But what about—”

“Kunsel can handle the evacuation as best he can, with Tifa.” Sephiroth didn’t look back. “There are other problems that we can take care of. Stopping the person who set the town on fire in the first place would insure that this does not happen again.”

Zack sensed Sephiroth’s train of thought as he heard it, and his expression hardened. “Yeah. I bet the survivors would be happy to know that.”

“Then let us go.”

Sephiroth moved ahead of Zack, taking resting a hand on Masamune as Zack followed after him. Zack’s own hand twitched as they moved through the darkening forest. Afternoon was turning to evening, and the bonfire of a town behind them lit the path as easily as sunlight.

That thought made Zack a little uneasy. “I hope they got a fire brigade. I don’t want to come back and see it all in ashes.”

“They have likely dealt with worse,” Sephiroth replied. “They chose to live in a harsh climate. They know to deal with harsh conditions.”

“Hopefully the people who did this aren’t as used to the weather as they are.”

Sephiroth was about to respond when he came to an abrupt stop. If Zack hadn’t felt the spike of alerted alarm from Sephiroth’s mind, he would’ve bumped into Sephiroth’s back.

_-A flash of silver…-_

_-What?-_

_-There, beyond the trees-_ Sephiroth nodded his head slightly towards the cliff’s edge. The trees hadn't lasted for as long as they’d been expecting.

But disappearing just over the cliff’s edge was a flash of silver hair.

Zack didn’t need to think anything at Sephiroth for the other to know what was going through his head. It seemed to be going through Sephiroth’s, as well.

_-Silver hair likely means-- -_

_\- --Someone else who’s got the same amount of Jenova in them or-- -_

_\- --Someone who has your genetic material._

Zack’s eyes widened a moment later. “We’re dangerously close to getting in sync with each other.”

Sephiroth’s eyes narrowed. “We need to be more careful.” He looked back towards the cliff. “Let’s continue to follow this stranger. If they are a relation of mine through Hojo’s experiments, it is likely they burned Nibelheim in retaliation for destroying Jenova’s remains.”

“Great.” Zack huffed as they moved to the edge of the cliff. “Do you think they’re gonna try to break in, too?”

“If they do, you can retaliate.”

“And what if it forces us in sync again? I dunno about you, but I don’t wanna test that after—”

“I am more than aware, Zack. We will simply have to work with the situation when the time comes.”

When, not if.

Zack’s shoulders hunched up as they came to a stop next to the cliff. “Guess we’ll be saying sorry to Aerith when we see her next. She asked me not to lose ourselves, so….”

“It seems to be something we will not be able to so easily avoid.” Sephiroth nodded back. “But we can consider that later. Let us find the mage who destroyed Nibelheim before we _are_ forced into that state.”

“Sounds like a plan to me!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting into the endgame, folks!


	34. Jenova's Children

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ack! Sorry, it completely slipped my mind to post this morning!
> 
> I blame that on me watching FFXIV cutscenes for the last week. As interested as I am in the story and lore, I am not that eager to play an MMO when I have no experience in such games. Much less pay monthly for one. (Although I am teetering back and forth on that...the only thing stopping me from playing for free is the fact that I have a Mac, not a PC.)
> 
> Aaaanyway, here's the chapter! Sorry I'm late!

Traveling up a mountain in the evening was not the kind of trip that Zack wanted to make, _especially_ since they had to climb their way up through tunnels inside the mountain.

“Kinda wish we’d brought Kunsel or that guide along,” Zack muttered as they climbed the tunnels. “They’d probably know their way up the reactor a lot better than we do right now.”

“They were needed in Nibelheim,” Sephiroth replied evenly. “Bringing one of them with us would have only made it harder for them to evacuate and bring that fire under control. Bringing either one of them here would have been useless to Nibelheim.”

“I can feel you thinking it as much as I can hear you, Sephiroth. You don’t need to say it out loud.”

“Acting like we are not connected could keep us from falling back in sync, I believe.” Sephiroth glanced back over his shoulder at Zack, his cat eyes almost glowing in the dark. “Which is something that you would have encouraged.”

“…yeah, you’re right.” Zack blinked as they paused at a crossroads in the tunnels. “You must be really affecting me if I was acting like you. And the other way around.” He looked down at his hands, frowning. “What do you think this is gonna mean?”

“Something we can contemplate at a later time.” Sephiroth turned his gaze to the dark tunnels around them. “You are concerned about this.”

“Kinda hard not to be. I mean…Aerith said I should try not to lose myself. What if this is the start of it? What if we get so mixed up in each other we can’t tell who acts like what? Whose _memories_ belong to who? It’s more than a little unnerving, not gonna lie. I _like_ being me. I don’t wanna be anyone else.”

“I can say the same for myself.” Sephiroth’s gaze shifted away from Zack, the mako glow of his eyes following like tiny green spotlights. Something silver shifted through his gaze, then vanished. “I believe our target wants us going this way.”

“I really hope we aren’t being led into a trap, then. I’d rather not have to deal with something like that.” Zack sent Sephiroth a pointed look. “Especially if they know how to move like you.”

“You are just as aware of my skills as I am.” Sephiroth moved along the tunnel he’d seen the silver flicker of hair come from. “We will be capable of handing ourselves, should the need arise.”

Zack kept a hand on the cave wall as they went, not entirely trusting the mako glow of their eyes to guide them on a straight path in the dark. “Yeah, well, you haven’t fought yourself, and I’m not about to let you try it for a quick spar _here_ , either.”

“Hm. A fair point. I will make sure to remember that for the future. Sparring against someone who can mimic my style would be…very interesting.”

“When we get out of this alive, I’ll see if I’m feeling up to it.”

“Hm.” A quirk of a smile crossed Sephiroth’s face for a moment, and then the smile faded. “It seems our target is leading us to the reactor.”

“What makes you say that?”

Sephiroth stopped at the end of a tunnel exit and looked out to the darkening horizon. Blocking a portion of the view of the mountain range around them was a giant, cylindrical building. If there was supposed to be a green flare coming from the top of it, there wasn’t any sign of so much as a spark.

“Okay, _that’s_ eerie.” Zack frowned up at the flare-less sky. “Something must be going on in there.”

“We will find out soon enough.” Sephiroth gripped the Masamune’s hilt. “Be prepared.”

“Right.”

They climbed the stairs and entered the reactor, finding the internal lights on and the building’s power running. Evidently, the reactor was still functioning, even if it wasn’t siphoning power from the planet in great amounts.

Zack caught sight of the flash of silver as it disappeared through the doorway on the other side of the entrance lobby. “Okay, at this point I wouldn’t be surprised if Hojo’s been making Sephiroth copies behind your back.”

“If he has been, then I will put them out of their misery.” Sephiroth strode towards the door, Zack following behind. “As Genesis’ copies were once people themselves before they were genetically overwritten, it would make sense to assume the same of any being that Hojo might produce in a short time.”

The silver-haired figure led them into a red-tinted room filed with pods-like devices. A staircase led up to a door on the other side of the room, with “JENOVA” written over the top. It wasn’t these that drew their attention, however – it was the three figures who were sitting on the pods or standing on the walkway.

“Welcome, brothers!” The one on the walkway raised his hands in front of him. He looked like a kid version of Sephiroth, just barely in his teens, with silver hair that went down to his shoulders. “We have been waiting for you.”

“Brothers?” Zack looked to the other two figures, also barely teenagers, sitting on the pods a couple levels above them. One was built like a bruiser and had short hair, and the other was as skinny and Sephiroth-looking as the first, but his hair went down to his mid-back instead. “What are you talking about? No way am I related to you.”

“Oh, but you are!” The kid in front of them grinned widely. “You carry our mother in you, Zack Fair. That makes you our brother, no matter how much _other_ sits in you as well!”

Zack set his jaw at that.

“So, he convinced you that Jenova is your mother.” Sephiroth’s eyes narrowed. There was something about having three sets of his own eyes staring back at him that was…somewhat unnerving. He suddenly understood why so many people looked away from his gaze quickly when they were forced to meet it. There was something inhuman about it that he hadn’t noticed when looking at himself in the mirror.

“Convinced?” The boy laughed. “No, that is the truth! We were created from her genetic data, and the data that made up the other beings that came together to make you!”

“No offense, but I doubt that’s how it works.” Zack’s hand twitched. He was ready to grab the Buster sword and slice these three copies in half, but Sephiroth gave him a mental signal to wait.

_-We don’t know their capabilities, much less what they are here for. Be prepared, but do not reach for it yet-_

“Oh, it is, though!” The boy was still grinning a little too widely for his face. “Mother created us using the scientist, and now we can fulfill her wishes on this planet.”

“Her wishes?” Sephiroth’s eyes flicked to the other two, before going back to the child in front of them.

“She wishes to bring everyone on this planet together, to unite them as one.” The boy held out a hand. “We can do it together, but Mother said you have been ignoring her call. Please, come with us. She can ease the aches you feel in your heart, the pain that—”

“I’ve already _got_ a mom, I don’t need another one.” Zack grabbed the Buster and moved it off his back, resting it on the armor on his shoulder instead. “And I can go see my _living_ mom whenever I want to, since she doesn’t barge into my head like a behemoth charging through walls.”

The near-Sephiroth lookalikes twitched as one at Zack’s words.

The bruiser frowned, the expression almost looking like a pout. “Brother, I don’t think he wants to help us.”

“Don’t worry, Loz, Sephiroth will be able to convince him! He is closer to Mother than Zack is.” The child in front of Zack and Sephiroth gave Loz a reassuring smile, then looked back at the two SOLDIERs. “Isn’t that right, Brother?”

Sephiroth inclined his head. Zack didn’t need to look at him to know what sort of thought was running through his head. “Our connection goes both ways. Even if I were to convince him of something, he would be capable of convincing me of something else in return.”

The hopeful smile on the child’s face dropped slightly, looking more uncertain.

“It seems to me we will have to take a different route.” The most Sephiroth-looking out of the three of them jumped off his pod and landed on the walkway next to the other, still unnamed copy. “Kadaj, Mother said they were ignoring her. They do not want to join in the Reunion.” He looked to Zack and Sephiroth, expression void of emotion. “Which means that _we_ will need to convince our brothers.”

_-Sephiroth….-_

_-I am aware-_ Sephiroth’s grip shifted on the sheathed Masamune. _-These are children. I do not expect their combat capabilities to be on par with ours-_

_-They’re little versions of you, though!-_

_-I am stronger than I was at that age-_ Sephiroth glanced at Zack from the corner of his eye. _-I assume the same of you-_

 _-Easy for you to say….-_ Zack shifted his stance slightly. “What kinda names’re Loz and Kadaj? I haven’t heard anybody call themselves _that_ before.”

“They’re names Mother gave us,” Kadaj replied brightly. “Do you like them? She could give you new names, too, if you joined us.”

The still-unnamed member of the Sephiroth clone trio frowned. “Kadaj—”

“We might still be able to convince them, Yazoo! If we fight, we fight, but Mother wanted them whole.”

“Mother can still have them whole if we fight.” Yazoo shifted his stance slightly and inclined his head towards Zack and Sephiroth. “She never said about them coming to her _hurt.”_

Loz perked up as Sephiroth prepared to remove Masamune from its sheath and Zack prepared to swing the Buster sword in front of him. “We get to play? Really?”

“I don’t see why not.” Yazoo nodded to Loz. “But we can’t be too harsh with them. After all, they didn’t bring their third with them.”

“Aw.” Loz frowned. “I was hoping we could have fun with Cloud, too.”

“You know about Cloud?” Zack’s grip tightened on his sword’s hilt. “How?”

“We were in the mansion with him.” Kadaj smiled brightly. “Mother said you would have to bring him to her, though. We may be of her, but we cannot carry more than the three of us together. But you can carry his weight, and you are! I can sense it!”

Something skittered across the edge of their mindspace, and Zack responded on instinct. The swords made Kadaj flinch in response, eyes widening in alarm.

“Try that again and you’ll learn what we had to do to keep _your_ mother out,” Zack warned. “You’re not getting Cloud, and you’re not getting us. So there.”

Yazoo’s eyes narrowed as Loz’s eyes widened. A grin crossed the bruiser’s face, and the young teen launched himself off the pod and towards Sephiroth.

“Time to play!”

Sephiroth barely dodged the armored fist that went for his face, eyes widening as he moved. Masamune was out of its sheath and slicing towards the boy in seconds, but Kadaj caught it before it could go far. The one-bladed katana was caught between two blades coming from one hilt, and Kadaj twisted it, attempting to pull the sword from Sephiroth’s grip.

Yazoo aimed a pair of guns at Zack. “You _will_ be coming with us to see Mother.”

The Buster sword was in front of Zack mere seconds before the bullets could find their mark in Zack’s chest and stomach. “Not likely! I’d sooner die than have to deal with _her_ unwanted voice in my head!”

Yazoo looked alarmed at the exclamation, but only for a moment. Loz suddenly appeared in front of Zack and went for a kick to his head, forcing Zack to duck. His opponent’s foot grazed his head, leaving behind a sensation akin to metal burn as Zack raised his sword.

Sephiroth twisted his sword against Kadaj’s and pushed forward, turning the blade towards Kadaj with the intent to harm him, even as Kadaj attempted to push back. Yazoo aimed his guns at him and fired, but that only made Sephiroth pull Masamune from Kadaj’s sword and move to dodge the bullets that were coming at him.

A grin was starting to spread across Loz’s face, an expression that was mimicked in different levels of intensity on Yazoo’s and Kadaj’s faces.

 **“Mother won’t mind if we play with you a little before we bring you to her,”** they said together. **“If we get hurt, she can heal us! You’ll know how nice she is then, brothers.”**

 _-Unison!-_ Zack ducked under a swipe from Loz and jabbed out, but Loz danced back on quick feet. _-Sephiroth, they’re-- -_

 _\- --in sync, just like we can be, I know-_ Sephiroth swung his sword at Kadaj, who attempted to catch it again. He failed this time, as Sephiroth saw through Kadaj’s repeated movements. _-We have more experience-_

Zack was about to slice at Loz’s incoming kick, but the bruiser pivoted the other direction abruptly on his other foot. Yazoo’s gunfire forced Zack to bring his sword up as a shield, but a bullet struck him in the arm before he could get fully behind the Buster sword. _-Yeah, but there’s still more of them!-_

 _-We have faced worse odds than three children. Focus-_ Sephiroth caught Kadaj’s blades against his own, eyes narrowing. “I do not intend to see that creature as my _mother.”_

 **“Mother will be disappointed to hear that.”** Kadaj pushed off Sephiroth’s blade and landed next to Yazoo as Loz did the same on Yazoo’s other side. **“But you will come to accept her. And you will join her and us in Reunion. We know it has already begun with you! And soon, you will reunite her cells with us, and then we will reunite with Mother.”** They held their hands forward, palms up. **“Come. Let us show you. The burdens you carry do not have to be carried alone.”**

Zack gritted his teeth. “Okay, that’s getting more unnerving by the second.” He swung the Buster sword at his side, spinning it in a quick circle before he held it at his side, blade pointing towards Loz. If the sword had been held next to his head, it would have been a complete copy of Sephiroth’s starting stance, but holding the Buster at Zack’s side only made it a variation.

“We like having our free will,” Zack continued. “Like I said before. I’m not gonna let anyone else into my head. Sephiroth and Cloud are _enough!”_

With that said, Zack lunged forward, thrusting his sword forward with the intent of spearing even one of them. All three jumped out of the way before his sword could graze against one of them.

 **“You say that now.”** The three of them were grinning to various degrees. **“But you will think differently once you have seen Mother.”**

“Like _hell_ I’m gonna ever see her!” Zack snapped back. “I _heard_ her, and I know I don’t _want_ her! I’ve got my own mother in Gongaga, I don’t need _yours!”_

 **“And you, Sephiroth? Do you feel the same way?”** They turned their attention to him, frowns crossing their faces. **“You, who carry more of Mother than he. Do you not feel her call for reunion?”**

“I have heard it,” Sephiroth replied. “But I cannot say I am interested in answering.”

**“What? But this is Mother! Surely you wish to—”**

“Not when _your_ mommy wants to tear our world apart!” Zack swung his sword again, but the teens dodged. “Like hell do I want to see that happen!”

“The thought does not please me either.”

Their opponents’ expressions shifted to something that looked less disappointed, and far more angry. **“Then Mother will understand if we kill you. She can bring you back to serve us, as _we_ lead the Reunion! With you, serving as our foot soldiers!”**

The fighting began again, trading and giving blows in turn.

Yazoo focused his fire on Sephiroth this time, finding the Masamune to be a far smaller shield despite Sephiroth’s speed with the blade. Loz took to bouncing off Zack’s blade, keeping him from attacking any of the triplets. Kadaj bounced between them, taking advantage of their distraction with his own blades.

Zack moved to block Kadaj, only to have the breath knocked out of him by a kick from Loz as he came up from behind. _-Sephiroth, we-- -_

 _-I know-_ Sephiroth’s eyes narrowed. A few of Yazoo’s bullets dug into his shoulders and side, despite his quickly moving blade. _-As loathe as I am to do this-- -_

_\- --we’re going to have to, for the sake of our own survival-- -_

_\- --despite our hesitation after our last merging-- -_

**_\- --We must.-_ **

Loz noticed the change in their stances first, how Sephiroth and Zack moved at once to hold up their blades in an attacking stance despite Yazoo’s bullets shooting for them both. His pistols did not shoot at the rate of a machine gun, however, leaving large enough gaps for the two SOLDIERs to dodge between the bullets in silver-black blurs.

**“What is—”**

The triplets were cut off when Zack and Sephiroth slammed their blades into Yazoo, just under his arms and across his chest.

 **“You pushed us to this point; remember that.”** Their teal eyes met the cat-green gazes of the triplets as Yazoo lost his footing and fell back. The pistols slid out of his hands and hit the metal walkway as his body hit the ground with a pained gasp.

Kadaj and Loz started to move immediately. Loz dashed forward to grab Yazoo as Kadaj leapt towards Sephiroth and Zack, swinging his sword towards Sephiroth’s neck.

Sephiroth caught the blade with his own, and Zack moved to retaliate by swinging the Buster sword at the little Sephiroth copy.

Kadaj was expecting the attack, judging by the way he turned his head, but he wasn’t able to react in time. Without a First’s instincts and senses, and in the body of a still-growing human, he wasn’t as prepared for combat as his opponents.

“Kadaj!” Loz looked between Yazoo’s bleeding body in his arms and his still-standing brother. “Kadaj!”

“I know!” Kadaj snapped back. “Take him to the reactor! Some of Mother’s essence must still be here, even after that wretched SOLDIER burned up her head!”

**- _After him-_**

Zack took off after Loz as the bruiser ran up the staircase to the door that led to the next chamber in the reactor. **“Don’t think you can get away that easily!”**

“You’re still--?!” Kadaj yelped as Sephiroth’s sword came dangerously close to cutting into his neck. “Tch. You’re only making it harder on yourself.”

Sephiroth’s eyes narrowed. He could see what Zack saw on the other side of their connection, chasing Loz and the wounded Yazoo into a room that glowed with mako. Loz was cornered there, Yazoo bleeding out from the deep cuts that they had left in his torso.

Not even moving into different rooms like this threw them out of sync. If that didn’t confirm their suspicions, any attempt to separate later would certainly confirm it.

Kadaj’s sword shifted suddenly, the twin blades swiping for Sephiroth’s side as he moved to retaliate. Zack’s movements on the other side of the connection seemed to slow Sephiroth’s, which only gave his opponent the chance to slice into Sephiroth’s side. Sephiroth then hit Kadaj in the side, forcing the teen to stumble back, holding his side in order to staunch the bloodflow.

“Even when you’re at a disadvantage because the other side is moving on his own…what _are_ you, Brother?” Kadaj stared at Sephiroth with wide eyes.

“Not your brother,” Sephiroth replied, feeling Zack saying the same thing on the other side of the connection.

“Tch.” Kadaj’s eyes narrowed. He made as though to attack, only to jump away from Sephiroth and follow after Loz and Yazoo. “Loz! Yazoo! We need to go, now!”

Sephiroth rushed after the boy, sword prepared for another attack at a moment’s notice. On the other side of the connection, Zack moved towards Loz and Yazoo as the bruiser stood with his back to the mako pool far below them.

Sephiroth and Kadaj caught up with them just as Loz stumbled back, away from Zack’s blade, and fell over the edge of the platform into the mako below.

“No!” Kadaj stumbled towards the edge of the platform, then collapsed to his knees with a scream as he gripped his head tightly.

Sephiroth came to a stop as Zack stepped away from the edge of the platform.

Kadaj didn’t notice them, continuing to scream in pain as the level of sound increased. “Brothers! BROTHERS!”

 **- _So, this is what happens when someone in a connection dies-_** The thought made them a little uneasy.

 **“It would be better if we put you out of your misery.”** They stepped forward, looking down at Kadaj as he continued to scream. **“While your youth suggests you could survive and adapt to being alone again, Hojo’s and Jenova’s influence leads us to believe you would not survive for long.”**

A sword through the boy’s back cut him off with a shocked gurgle. He fell limp on Sephiroth’s blade, his last breath leaking from him.

 **“Good-bye, Kadaj.”** Sephiroth removed his sword from the copy, and they watched as Kadaj collapsed onto the platform, unmoving.

They peered over the side and frowned down at the pool of mako below them. **“There is no point in attempting to find them. No one could survive a dip in that much mako. Let us return to Nibelheim.”**

**- _Hopefully, they won’t be alarmed if they see us speaking in unison. I doubt we are going to be able to separate now, but we can still try, once we’ve returned to Nibelheim. Attempting to separate in a place that could still have monsters running around would be a bad idea-_**

They sighed to themselves, then sheathed their swords and walked out of the mako-filled chamber. Kadaj would dissipate into the lifestream on his own, without their help. They didn’t need to stay and watch.


	35. Aftermath

Nibelheim was nothing more than a burned-out husk by the time they returned to the edge of town, late in the night. What parts of the buildings that managed to escape the fires looked ready to collapse at any moment, and if there was anyone left alive, they were nowhere in sight.

 **“At least the fire wasn’t given an opportunity to spread.”** They looked around at the carnage, their gaze shifting to the strangely untouched mansion. **“They didn’t attack the mansion…they were likely aware of what Hojo has stored there.”**

A thought occurred to them, remembering what they had seen in the basement lab. **“Unless they were at one point living there, considering there were four mako tanks in Hojo’s lab. They were likely being kept there, along with Cloud.”**

“Zack! Sephiroth!”

They turned as Kunsel ran towards them. **“Kunsel. Report.”**

Kunsel stopped short in surprise. “You’re – you ran into something that you had to be in sync for.” His mouth twisted into a frown. “We managed to get some of Nibelheim’s townsfolk evacuated, but we’ve run into more trouble. The Turks are gathering up almost everyone we evacuated.”

**“Almost?”**

“Tifa and her martial arts teacher stayed with Valentine. Cloud’s with them. I ran back to get you before the Turks or Hojo noticed you were here.” Kunsel motioned for them to follow him. “If Hojo realizes you’re here and not doing whatever it is he’s expecting you to, then we’re all going to be in trouble.”

Kunsel led them back into the trees, then around the charred husk of Nibelheim as a helicopter landed in the middle of town. “Do you think you two can separate? Tifa is going to freak out if she hears you talking like that and Cloud starts mumbling on top of that.”

**“Has he been?”**

“A little. Nothing that sounds like words yet, but it’s been making Tifa ask questions.”

Zack and Sephiroth exchanged looks.

“She’s not taking all of this too well,” Kunsel added. “First someone burned her town to pieces, and now her childhood friend is in a coma because someone in Shinra decided to expose him to a great deal of mako. I don’t know how she’d handle it once she realizes he’s mentally connected to the two of you, especially when you’re currently merged like this. You’re not feeling any effects of the mako poisoning, are you?”

They considered that, mentally reaching out for where they knew Cloud to be, and frowned. **“We aren’t currently feeling any of that, no. It’s likely that Cloud is attempting to keep all of it to himself, or we have learned to push it away from the two of us while we are focusing on potential dangers in the area.”**

They watched as a few figures in suits stepped out of the helicopter. The suits gave them away as Turks, but that wasn’t the only defining feature about them.

“Tseng.” Kunsel’s fists clenched. “It looks like I’m going to have to exchange some _words_ with Veld when I get back.”

 **“If you are able to,”** they replied, keeping their voices low. **“They may decide to make you missing in action, or even killed. We would not be surprised if they decided to cover what has happened here as something else.”**

Kunsel’s fists remained clenched for a moment, but then he forced them to relax. “I know. I’ve been watching what Shinra’s been doing for as long as I’ve been a SOLDIER, and for a few extra years besides. As much as you two are going to need ears on the inside, it looks like I won’t be able to go back to Shinra myself anytime soon.”

Zack’s and Sephiroth’s expressions shifted to sympathy, but that didn’t last.

“Check the mansion!” Tseng called. “We need to check to make sure that nothing of Professor Hojo’s was damaged in the fire.”

“They’re going to notice that we were here.” Kunsel looked to Zack and Sephiroth. “Let’s go. Vincent should be getting the others to the bottom of the mountain by now.”

**“Then let us catch up.”**

\----

Tifa held onto Cloud tightly as the truck they were riding in bounced down the mountain. She didn’t like how his eyes had gained a green tint, rather than the familiar sky blue that she had grown up seeing every day.

She could still remember hearing Mrs. Strife scream in her home as it had collapsed, before they had been able to pull her out.

“M-Mr. Valentine….” Tifa gulped, shaking. “Wh-what are we going to do now? Wh-why is Cloud— what is going _on?”_

“You will get answers soon,” Vincent replied. Tifa’s teacher was handling driving the truck rather well, and far better than Vincent could have. A gauntleted hand, and being locked away from the rest of the world, meant that driving a vehicle he was not familiar with would be very difficult.

“But –”

“I am not as familiar with current events as the SOLDIERs are. We will have to wait for them to catch up with us until then.”

Tifa looked between the strangely dressed man and her childhood friend. It sounded like Cloud was muttering something under his breath, but she couldn’t make out what it was that he was saying.

She tightened her grip on Cloud, keeping him close as they bounced over another rock in the road. “Cloud…just hang on. Please. We’re gonna get you to someone who can help you, a-and then…and then….”

Tifa couldn’t think of anything else to say after that. What _could_ they do? Their home had just burned to the ground! She didn’t have any other places to go. And Cloud wasn’t in Midgar anymore, training to become a SOLDIER. He was here, comatose, because of the very people he had gone to serve.

Just _what_ was _happening_ anymore? Was the world going mad around her as everything she knew was falling apart?

Vincent shifted quietly as Tifa leaned over Cloud, her eyes watering with tears that matched her panic and grief. He had dealt with Turks who wept over their first kill, the death of their first partner, and anything potentially ridiculous. Losing one’s entire home was something else he had comforted Turks over, but Tifa wasn’t a Turk. She wasn’t trained in the same way that Turks were.

Which meant that comforting her in the same way that Turks can be comforted would not help her.

He looked over his gauntleted hand again, frowning to himself as he thought over the events of the last two days. Waking up in a coffin to find Lucretia’s _son_ staring at him, with proof of Jenova in his veins. He was resisting Jenvoa’s pull, and likely was still, regardless of where the rest of her body had been taken. Hojo likely had it hiding away in some secret facility.

Or in Shinra’s headquarters itself, if he was feeling _that_ confident about keeping it in one place.

The thought made his eyes narrow. The fact that Hojo, the man who had married Lucretia, was willing to damage her son for the sake of his own experiments, made him want to wring the man’s neck. Hojo held no love for Lucretia’s son, merely seeing him as a science experiment to be poked and prodded, and that apparently carried over to anyone Sephiroth interacted with, as Zack had been brought in as a SOLDIER, not as anyone for Hojo to experiment with directly. Or as having _been_ an experiment from birth, for that matter.

Tifa kept sniffling. It made Vincent think of the young Turks who were still learning about what being a Turk actually _meant_ for their futures.

She had nowhere to go, and what he could see of her suggested she would be good at hand-to-hand….

“Take the time you need to grieve, but remember that grieving won’t bring them back,” Vincent said quietly. He heard Tifa’s breathing hitch; he hoped that he was saying what she was going to need to hear. “You did what you could think of at the time. Don’t worry about thinking about what you could have done if you had known what was coming. You didn’t. I doubt that anyone will fault you for the actions you took. You did what you could. That is enough.”

Tifa lifted her head and meet Vincent’s gaze with eyes still spilling tears. “But…I still wish I had done more.”

“Then do more next time.” Vincent nodded to her. “The best you can do is make sure that you are strong enough to prevent the disaster from becoming as terrible the next time.”

Tifa’s eyes flickered for a moment, but then her expression hardened. “No. I’ll _keep_ it from happening next time.”

Vincent inclined his head, but before he could say anything more, she kept going.

“If I can get strong enough to keep people from going through what…what’s happening to Cloud, and…and what happened to….” Tears threatened to spill over again, but Tifa shook her head to keep them at bay. “Then…then no one will have to go through what happened to me ever again.”

The result was certainly what Vincent had been expecting if Tifa was a Turk – he caused her tears to stop by focusing on the future. _Her_ reason for her focus wasn’t entirely what he had been expecting, but it gave her drive, not left her wallowing in despair.

“So long as you remember the people you could not save do not blame you for not being at the level of strength you have not yet reached.” Vincent frowned at her. “You are not a SOLDIER, and you cannot travel back to change what has happened.”

Tifa nodded. There was a harshness to her gaze that Vincent thought he’d once seen in Veld, after a particularly hard mission that some part of him hadn’t wanted to repeat. Had Veld been able to succeed in that? Or had he let such childish thinking fall to the wayside, in exchange for a train of thought that would have let him survive Shinra’s missions for the Turks?

It was something he was going to have to find out for himself, he assumed. Sephrioth knew very little about how the Turks functioned, and he, Zack, and Kunsel only knew them on a business level. Even then, they wouldn’t have known everything about Veld – only a Turk could read a Turk, because a Turk knew _how_ to read a Turk through the mask they wore.

The truck hit a large bump in the road. Tifa scrambled to keep Cloud positioned over her lap as best she could as they settled.

“Master Zangan!” Tifa barked.

“I am being as careful as I can, my student!” yelled back the muscular, gray-haired man at the wheel. “Do you realize how difficult it is to drive in the dark down this Goddess forsaken mountain? If you would like a turn at the wheel, please, let me know!”

Tifa’s grip on Cloud turned into a hug. “I-I’m fine where I am!”

“Then do not lecture your teacher on how to drive in the middle of the night!”

“S-sorry.” Tifa lowered her head.

They were quiet for a few minutes as the bumps in the mountain road lessened. Vincent wondered if the people who lived on the mountain didn’t have any need to improve this particular road, and as a result they simply dealt with what the mountain gave them.

It felt like a sign that Shinra hadn’t made as tight a grip on this part of the world as they thought they did.

Zangan sighed heavily. “Tifa, I do not mean to be harsh with you after what you have experienced. Do not take my statements about your backseat driving to heart. This evening has been…heavily stressful, for all of us. When we are further away from here, we will be able to spend time recovering, but until then, we must focus on getting _off this mountain.”_

“Yes, master.” Tifa nodded.

“Cry as much as you need to. I have reason to believe you will not have such an easy chance to do so in the future.”

Tifa nodded again, and used the back of one of her gloves to wipe away the tears that were still on her face. “Y-yeah.”

“Now, with _that_ said – when do you expect to see those SOLDIERs again, Turk?” Zangan’s attention was on Vincent now, even if he couldn’t take his eyes off the road.

“…Turk?” Tifa repeated in confusion.

“While I was once a Turk in _profession_ , Zangan, I cannot continue to claim that position,” Vincent replied evenly.

“But you are still a Turk.”

“I did not say I wasn’t.” Vincent noticed that Tifa was still looking at him with an odd expression, but decided to ignore it. “Kunsel will bring them down towards us. I doubt they will be able to reach us quickly, as they will be moving on foot.”

“They may be enhanced, but they won’t be able to catch up with us,” Zangan added. “We will find a place at the bottom of the mountain to wait for them, where we will not be spotted so easily.”

“We will have to leave the truck behind,” Vincent said. “They will be looking for it.”

“I expected nothing less.” Zangan huffed. “We will be reaching the base of the mountain soon enough. Be ready when we do.”

\----

It took them until after sunrise to reach a place they wanted to hide. The forest at the base of the mountain offered a large number of hiding places among the trees. The truck was left abandoned on the slope of the mountain, tilted on its side like someone had lost control of the vehicle and sent it careening down the mountain road instead of driving it properly.

Vincent hadn’t seemed pleased with it, but Zangan had talked him out of leaving a blood trail going off into the woods and ending at a monster’s den. _That_ would have required killing things, or self-mutilation, and that was something they couldn’t afford.

What they _could_ afford to do, was have Vincent sit up in a tree and wait for Kunsel to get Zack and Sephiroth down the mountain, while Zangan and Tifa sat with Cloud under a bush a fair distance away. Even though they were out of range for a normal human’s ears, Vincent could still pick up their worried, hushed conversation over Cloud’s unmoving body.

**_“_ ** _They’re connected to what happened to him somehow, but I don’t – I don’t want him to have to—”_

_“I know, my student. We will discuss our next move when they catch up to us, and no sooner.”_ Zangan sighed. _“He hasn’t changed, then.”_

_“He hasn’t muttered anything aloud in hours. Hours. I just – is he still in there? Is Cloud still in there?”_

_“If he is, I doubt we will be able to see much of him for some time.”_

Vincent sighed quietly and breathed in through his nose. One of the beasts at the back of his mind stirred, and he was half-tempted to push it back again, warn it against attempting to take over in case it got any ideas, but then he picked up the scent of mako on the wind, and his eyes snapped open.

He turned his head and frowned towards the slope of the mountain. They were doing well enough to hide themselves from sight and sound, but if there was anyone here who had brought dogs with them, they would not be able to hide very well.

Vincent dropped from the tree as the three missing SOLDIERs stepped into view from behind another tree. “Did anyone follow after you?”

Kunsel shook his head. “It was dark enough in town that the Turks didn’t notice us. I’m assuming the transport on the road is one you borrowed.”

Vincent nodded, then eyed Zack and Sephiroth. Their eyes were the same color, which meant…. “You two are on the same wavelength again.”

They nodded. **“We can’t separate.”**

Vincent raised an eyebrow. “Explain.”

 **“We spent too long in sync when we were waiting for Jenova to be destroyed. We had some difficulty then, but we were able to separate when her presence was gone. Now, however, we can’t pull apart. We’ve tried.”** Zack and Sephiroth managed to both look ashamed at this fact. **“Kunsel told us about Cloud. Sorry, but we don’t know how to keep him out of this, either.”**

The bush the Nibelheim locals were hiding under shifted as Tifa made a noise of alarm.

“So long as the situation is explained to Tifa and her teacher, I am sure we will come to an understanding,” Vincent replied. He motioned for them to follow him around the large pine tree to where the bush was located. Tifa was already sticking her head out from under the branches, looking around wildly while Zangan grumbled from underneath them.

“Imagine if you had done that and you were met with someone from Shinra, foolish girl.” Zangan frowned disapprovingly.

“Cloud started saying something, Master,” Tifa replied. “He only does that when—” She cut herself off as she met Zack’s and Sephiroth’s gazes, and her expression hardened. “What did you _do_ to him.”

Zack and Sephiroth exchanged looks.

“It wasn’t something they did or asked for, Tifa,” Kunsel replied. “Shinra’s head scientist, Hojo, did it without regard for either one of their opinions on the matter.”

 **“We didn’t know Cloud was involved in this until we arrived here,”** Zack and Sephiroth added honestly. Faintly, they could hear Cloud muttering something along with them, but the words were slurred. He wasn’t conscious enough to speak them clearly. Apparently, being in sync with them wasn’t enough to bring him out of the coma. **“We don’t know if he is aware of what is happening. His part of all this is in a fog from the mako poisoning his body is suffering from.”**

“Poisoning?!” Tifa yelped. “But – how can that be fixed? There has to be something we can do.”

Zangan stuck his head out of the bushes. “I have heard that Mideel has doctors who are capable of looking into these kinds of problems, but this…strange connection is going to cause some difficulties.”

Zack and Sephiroth huffed. **“That’s one way of putting it.”** Of the two, Zack’s voice sounded stronger in that moment.

“The current plan is to hide in Banora,” Kunsel explained. “It used to be a town, but they…removed it, in order to cover up another one of their so-called mistakes. Since there is no one left, we should be able to hide there without them finding us so easily.”

 **“You’re coming with us?”** Zack and Sephiroth frowned.

Vincent frowned as well. “The Turks have need of you still, Rumor.”

Kunsel shook his head. “Shinra wanted me dead. They wouldn’t have sent me on this mission with these two if they wanted me to stay alive. They likely expected Zack and Sephiroth to react to Jenova and leave them without any need to hide me under their own power.”

 **“If Jenova had reached us, it would not have ended well for us,”** Zack and Sephiroth agreed. **“She’s the Calamity that wiped out the Ancients, the Cetra. If we had let her in, it is likely she would have used us to destroy Nibelheim ourselves. Instead, other experiments of Hojo’s filled in that position.”**

“Other experiments?” Zangan’s eyes narrowed.

 **“Hojo had others in Shinra’s mansion, but they left it before we arrived. It is likely they expected us to join them in following their… _mother.”_** Their expressions shifted to disgust at the thought.

“And…and Cloud’s like you now, too?” Tifa looked between them with a worried expression.

 **“Unfortunately.”** Zack looked away from Tifa, but Sephiroth did not. It left the open apology on his face clear to see.

Kunsel shifted back slightly, startled, when he saw the look on Sephiroth’s face, but he didn’t say anything.

“I see.” Tifa frowned. “Then…you can do something to wake him up, right?”

Zack and Sephiroth didn’t need to look at each other this time. **“There’s a chance we could use our connection to that end, but that would mean taking on some of the mako poisoning’s effects ourselves. That’s something we would rather not do until we have reached a safe place where we won’t be found.”**

“Getting to Banora from here is going to be tricky, but we should be able to manage it.” Kunsel tapped the side of his head, and he nodded to Zangan and Tifa. “The two of you shouldn’t have to follow us. You weren’t seen by the Turks when they arrived, so you should get the chance to live somewhere that Shinra doesn’t have so tight of a grip.”

“But…I don’t want to….” Tifa looked down at Cloud, likely still in her lap, hiding under the bushes. “Cloud…you promised you’d come protect me when I needed your help. Is this what it costs, to get the strength that you thought you’d need?”

Cloud, of course, didn’t answer. His teal eyes flickered under half-closed eyelids instead.

“Tifa.” Zangan rose to his feet and stepped out of the bush. “We will travel with these SOLDIERs and their Turk as far as Banora, but then I would like for us to continue on and leave them to their own devices.”

“Master!” Tifa lifted her head sharply. “But—”

“Civilians hiding with wanted fugitives will only put you in more danger, if they are found.” Zangan turned his experienced eyes to Zack and Sephiroth. “I expect you to keep her friend safe, once we part ways.”

 **“We don’t want him hurt, either.”** They nodded back.

“Good.” Zangan nodded shortly. “Then let us move on, to make sure that they do not find us so easily. I assume you know how to reach Banora from here.”

“I know the general direction,” Kunsel volunteered. “Let’s start moving south. We’ve got a long trek ahead of us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we begin the long journey as fugitives...well, for the SOLDIERs, at least.
> 
> What exactly will happen where they're going? We're going to have to wait and see...especially since we need to get them there, first!


	36. Cleanup Work

“What do you mean, _you haven’t found them?”_

Cissnei tried kept a straight face as Hojo hissed at Tseng’s.

“They were supposed to be here, with the piece of Jenova that I’d left behind for the very purpose of the experiment. They _should_ still be here. It’s impossible that they could have resisted her call!”

“You can go and look for yourself, sir, but the only person we found was the boy, near death.” Tseng motioned to the silver-haired teen they’d brought out of the reactor on a stretcher. He was still unconscious, likely from blood loss, if the large puddle of dry, crusted blood was to be believed. Taking two sword attacks in the way the boy had and barely surviving was impressive.

Although, that _was_ to be expected, if the teenager was made by Hojo in the same way that Sephiroth had been.

Hojo gritted his teeth and looked like he wanted to keep yelling, but then he paused and breathed in deeply and stood taller. “Well. I expect you to find some form of their bodies in the area, then. No doubt some mental distraction caused them to be killed by one of the monsters in the area.”

“We didn’t—”

“We will give Mt. Nibel a thorough look, sir,” Tseng spoke over Cissnei.

“Good. In the meantime, I am going to do something about the people that survived. I’ll leave the cleanup of all this to you.” Hojo motioned to the burned-out husks that had once been the small town of Nibelheim. “What a mess. An experiment ruined by some unknown factor. I am going to have to find some way to salvage what I had lost.”

Cissnei watched as Hojo turned and walked briskly towards the untouched mansion on the edge of what had once been a small town. Two troopers followed after him, carrying the boy on the stretcher between them. She turned to look at Tseng with a harsh frown. “Why did you—”

“I have a reason to believe this is what Kunsel was worried about,” Tseng replied evenly. “We will play along and make Hojo believe that they were killed by the dragons that once lived in the tunnel system. Then we will see if we can find any tracks that they may have left behind and cover them more thoroughly than what they were capable of.”

“And the townsfolk?”

“Leave them. There’s nothing we can do for them.” Tseng nodded towards the mansion. “They’d already taken shelter there when the troopers had arrived. If any were left outside and they left the area before the troopers could find them, we will not pursue them.”

Cissnei frowned. “Tseng, what is it you’re not telling me?”

Tseng paused, then looked between the mansion and Cissnei for a moment before leaning over slightly. “We found no trace of Zack, Sephiroth, or Kunsel in the reactor, or anywhere in town. If Hojo wants to believe they were destroyed in the reactor, then so be it. Rumor knew something was going to happen. Find him and figure out what it is that he knows. I doubt he could have gotten far, in this terrain.”

“I’ll see if I can find any sign of him.” Cissnei nodded. “What about Hojo? Any clues?”

“He sent us ahead to secure his laboratory in the basement, along with the surviving townsfolk,” Tseng replied evenly. “Everything had been ransacked. It looked like someone had read through every book of notes in his library, and destroyed every monster that might have once nested inside.” He paused. “There were mako tanks in the basement that had been used recently. The mansion has not been as abandoned as we were informed.”

Cissnei’s eyes widened slightly. “Someone was doing experiments here when they arrived?” She paused. “Or… _Hojo_ had a set of experiments here, before they arrived.”

Tseng’s gaze shifted slightly. “Officially, proof of AVALANCHE has been found here, using the mansion. There will be added reports that the reactor was going to blow up as well, but the bomb was stopped before they could set it off. In retaliation, they destroyed the town.”

“Officially.” Cissnei nodded. “Understood. I’ll go and…see if there are any AVALANCHE _insurgents…_ hiding in the area.”

Tseng nodded back. “Good. Report back to me if you find anything. If Hojo finds you first, tell him only what he needs to know.”

Cissnei nodded, then stepped out of the circle of charred, collapsing buildings and into the trees beyond.

They’d spent the entire night checking over the mansion and preparing what waited below, and then investigating the reactor after the fact. Now that it was daylight, they could focus on the cold world around them, rather than only what Hojo wanted their focus to be.

Cissnei crouched behind some bushes as Tseng turned and walked in the direction of the strangely-shaped mountain, and the reactor that sat on it.

“I hope you know what you’re doing, Tseng,” Cissnei murmured to herself. “And Rumor had better know what he’s doing, too. Otherwise, we won’t have any clue what’s going to happen next.”

It didn’t take long for Cissnei to circle around the town and find proof of someone else having been in among the trees. A few boot prints here, a broken twig there, and that was all Cissnei needed to follow the tracks towards the road– or, along the main road, down the mountain and through the trees.

Cissnei hummed as she stepped in one of the boot prints that had been left behind. The feet that had left these were large, larger than hers, and since they were the only boot prints she was seeing, she knew they couldn’t be Kunsel’s. Rumor, while not being a Turk, was good enough to almost be one of their own. He could hide his footprints very easily here, unlike two inexperienced SOLDIERs.

“All right, Sephiroth, Zack. Lead me to where you are. Hearing the story from the two of you will give us a lot more to work from than Hojo’s little nuggets of truth.”

\----

Tseng walked around the large splatter of blood where the silver-haired boy had been lying. The blood had long dried into a brown stain on the metal floor that was going to be difficult to remove, but at least it meant that Hojo had something to look at, if he ever decided to come up to the reactor himself.

He frowned as he considered the wounds he’d seen on the boy. Sephiroth and Zack had both attacked him, or at least one of them had, judging by what had been left behind, but that didn’t tell him what had happened to provoke them into attacking someone years younger than them.

“A different family, a different form,” Tseng murmured to himself. “But what form are they being forced to take, Hojo?”

The scientist would never give them a straight answer, but that was to be expected. Hojo liked his secrets, and kept them better than the other department heads, excluding the Turks’ own. They would have been willing to leave him alone, but the Turks made it a point to know _everyone’s_ secrets. The more hidden it was, the more satisfying it was to find.

Although, in Hojo’s case, _his_ secrets were starting to become more terrifying, not that Tseng would ever be willing to admit that to the scientist’s face.

“A child who looks like Sephiroth, two missing Firsts and a missing Second, and something that had been locked behind closed doors that has been released.”

Tseng had not missed the room full of coffins, and the one that had been opened and left abandoned. That, and the books that had been left open, scattered around in Hojo’s personal library, near his laboratory.

“You left them open to the pages you chose for a reason, or at the very least, that was where you lost interest in his notes.” Tseng’s gaze moved up to the destroyed glass cylinder on the other side of the reactor’s mako storage room. If there had been something there, it had been destroyed before their arrival. “I do not want to return to Veld empty handed.”

Tseng turned and walked out of the room, back into the pod storage that made his skin crawl. He frowned at the contents of one of them – something that had once been human, something that was now more monster, and less human. A part of him wondered if Zack and Sephiroth had considered destroying the pods, letting what had once been human inside be put out of their misery.

Hojo would likely do that soon enough on his own, or leave them to drown in the mako they were pickling in.

Tseng moved back out to the reactor’s entrance. He was going to need a convincing cover story for Hojo and Shinra to use, and having something half-baked would do them no good.

“An attempted AVALANCHE bombing, one that Sephiroth and Zack Fair were sent to stop, while under the cover of it being a simple monster hunting mission,” Tseng remarked to himself. He nodded after a moment. “They stopped the bomb from destroying the reactor, but found that some of the town’s members were involved in AVALANCHE. There were no survivors left once they were done, not even the two SOLDIERs, who suffered from grievous wounds from the prepared AVALANCHE agents. Any innocent Nibelheim civilians will be appropriately mourned and left alone as they attempt to rebuild.”

Tseng paused. “Or, no one survived, and Nibelheim will not be rebuilt.”

Turks had to be adaptable like that. There was no guarantee that Shinra agents would agree to the first option they were given. Some liked having options.

Hojo would likely choose the one that would mean he could be left alone, undisturbed. Having a fake town to hide in would likely help, but building cover towns cost money and time.

“The president is likely to agree with what Hojo wants to do,” Tseng hedged to himself. “Which means this town’s fate is in Hojo’s hands, not counting the people that he has herded into his basement lab.”

Best not to think about such things. They were no longer people, but test subjects. Turks weren’t meant to linger on those kinds of results for their missions. Especially if they ended with a Turk retired.

Tseng shook the thought from his mind and started walking away from the reactor, heading towards the remains of the town. He could check the tunnels as he went, to see if there were any monsters that had been missed. Bringing back parts of one might give them something to work with, if they wanted to pretend that a First wasn’t able to withstand the might of some of the more powerful Nibel range monsters.

He was thankful that none of the acid dragons that nested here were in the area. That could have proved disastrous.

\----

Hojo was greatly displeased to see how much of a mess had been made of his lab in his absence. Specimen K could at the very least have cleaned up the space before he had left to confront Z and S. But he hadn’t, and that meant Hojo’s notes on previous projects surrounding Jenova and the Reunion Theory were in plain view for the Turks to see.

At least they hadn’t attempted to put them back in some nonsensical order that would take weeks to re-do. Hojo decided to see that as the sole bright spot in all this as he started putting the books back where they were supposed to be on the shelves.

“If they read all this, then those SOLDIERs should have given into her presence, understood what it is that they were _here_ for.” He had purposefully removed any mention of Jenova being a calamity, but even then, all the notes he’d had from Gast on Jenova being an Ancient were stacked in a back corner of the library, close to where water from melting snow outside was leaking in. He was going to have to redo those notes if he was going to have a complete set of opinions on the creature he now had easy access to.

Hojo tsked to himself. “Soon, I’ll have more than enough data to work with. I still have Kadaj to harvest S-cells from. If I can create more, I should be able to eventually see the Reunion Theory in action for myself. Those townsfolk from Nibelheim will prove to be a useful resource.”

Already, he was breaking down their names into specimen designations. Those who would successfully carry the S-cell genome would be given numbers, but only time and effort would be able to reveal those to him.

If Hojo had anything to say about it – and he certainly did – he had all the time in the world to see this experiment through. He was going to make more Sephiroths, _better_ Sephiroths, and they would both be able to do what Shinra wanted _and_ show him the true power of Jenova.

The thought made him dizzy from his eagerness to see it through, and Hojo chuckled to himself at the thought.

“Yesss, show me your true power, Jenova. Let me see what lengths you will go to in order to become whole again. _Show me.”_

He continued putting his books back as he murmured to himself about genetic equations and what it would take to write over the existing minds of the mountain-worn Nibelheim locals. So focused were his thoughts that he didn’t notice Specimen K, back in his mako-filled tank, stirring and writhing in his unconscious state, reaching out for something that was no longer there.

_-Brothers….brothers! Where are you?!-_

\----

Hours after she left the remains of Nibelheim, Cissnei found the overturned Shinra truck lying on the side of the road. That hadn’t been there when they had been _arriving_ at the mountain, which meant it hadn’t been there for long.

Cissnei inspected it and frowned at the slash marks on one of the tires. They didn’t look like a monster’s attack. The cuts were too smooth, too uniform. At a glance they would suffice as what _looked_ like a monster’s attack, but to a Turk?

They looked like something from a man-made weapon. Claws to wear on one’s hand, perhaps.

Cissnei idly spun her giant shuriken in one hand as she stood up and stepped away from the truck. She could attempt to call Tseng, but reception in the mountains was terrible, and the proximity to Mt. Nibel seemed to make it _worse,_ somehow. Landlines were far more reliable in the cold climate, but there would be no sign of those anywhere in town except for in the mansion. Even then, there wouldn’t be a line leading into the basement laboratory. If Hojo had built this place and ran it like he preferred to, he didn’t want _any_ interruptions while he was working.

Besides, the monsters that had once nested in that place had probably cut the line.

“Kunsel doesn’t have this many blades on him,” Cissnei spoke aloud. “And Zack’s and Sephiroth’s swords are too long to make cuts like this. He must be with members of Nibelheim who got out before we arrived.” She turned to look at the pine trees around her, frowning. “They didn’t move onto the road just yet at this point…but their footprints do meet this wreck of a truck. They met up with survivors here, then.”

She followed the SOLDIER’s boot prints into the woods and came to a stop at what looked like a large bush. There were a great number of boot prints here, and the bush looked like it had once been hiding people inside it.

“They must have taken shelter here and waited for them to catch up,” Cissnei remarked. “Hm.”

Something made the hairs on the back of her neck rise, and her weapon was suddenly raised up between herself and a golden, clawed gauntlet that nearly came down on her head.

Cissnei gritted her teeth at the strength behind the arm, eyes narrowing at the red-eyed man who stared back at her.

“Hm. You should have noticed me sooner,” the man said. He jumped back a short distance, taking his weight off Cissnei’s shuriken. “If you are what passes for a Turk these days, your training has become much less than I thought.”

“Who are you to know that?” Cissnei stood ready to throw her weapon at the man’s head, but she could tell he was just as prepared to strike her at a moment’s notice. His relaxed stance hid nothing from her.

The man watched her for a long moment, then slowly reached under his red cloak with his normal hand and pulled out a file. It looked like something of Hojo’s. “Take this to Veld. He needs to see this.”

Cissnei wasn’t about to reach out and grab it. “Why? Who are you to know him?”

He scanned over her again, making Cissnei feel like a prey animal being regarded by a predator with disinterest. “A retired Turk.”

“Turks don’t say something like that lightly.”

“No. But I was given the retirement package, whether it was my time or not.” The man held the file towards her. “Take it to Veld. Tell him his old partner sends his regards. He will understand.”

Cissnei stiffened at this. Old partner? Veld had only taken one partner during the time before he’d become director for the Turks, which meant—

“Vincent Valentine?” Cissnei’s voice shook with shock.

The man – Vincent – inclined his head. He didn’t say anything more, but at this point, he didn’t really need to.

Cissnei nodded and stepped forward, taking the file with her free hand and stuffing it into her jacket. “Is there anything else I should know?”

“Don’t trust Hojo.” Vincent paused. “And don’t follow us. Some things are better left alone.”

He vanished into the underbrush as Cissnei watched, and despite the fact that she knew where he stood, he still disappeared from her eyes as easily as a chameleon.

She felt a little jealous. If she ever met this legendary Turk again, she was going to _demand_ he teach her how he did that.


	37. Gongaga

They felt a combined sense of homecoming, of a longing to walk into a house that had once been called home and see that the people who had been left behind when they had left for Midgar.

No, when _Zack_ had left for Midgar.

The dissonance of realizing they had both been thinking like Zack was enough to put a chink in the connection that they immediately took advantage of.

**_-We – will not—think-- -_ **

_\- --in sync!-_

_\- --in sync!-_

Zack and Sephiroth stumbled back from each other, Zack hitting the cliff wall behind him with enough force to rattle a few rocks loose.

“… _ow.”_ Zack rubbed the side of his head and winced.

“Are you all right?” Tifa looked between the two of them, confused and wide-eyed. Cloud twitched where he lay on Zangan’s back, but he didn’t wake up. “You…you’re not talking at the same time anymore?”

Sephiroth grunted and shook his head. “Separating from a merger…especially when it lasts for that long, seems to have an effect on a physical level as much as a mental one.”

“Here’s hoping we _don’t_ end up like that again.” Zack grimaced. “I mean, being able to look out of two sets of eyes at once is cool an’ all, but I’m starting to see why some people like being left alone to clear their heads and think for themselves.”

“Good.” Sephiroth nodded to Zack, then looked over Kunsel, Tifa, Zangan, Vincent, and the unconscious Cloud before looking down the path ahead of them into the town below them.

Jungle trees rose up on either side of the canyon they stood in, blocking more of the view behind them than in front of them. A reactor stood in the distance, the bright green mako flare almost invisible against the sky.

Sephiroth scanned each of the buildings carefully, like he could make out every detail at this great a distance. “So…this is Gongaga.”

“Yup.” Zack walked over to stand next to Sephiroth as Kunsel joined them. Tifa remained back with Vincent and Zangan, making sure that Cloud hadn’t been hurt in the path they’d taken to get to this point. “Home, sweet home.”

“You grew up here?” Tifa frowned and tilted her head, curious.

“Yup. Why, did you think I grew up in Midgar?” Zack looked back, grinning a little. “I’m too backcountry for that. It’s like I told Cloud, too – we’re only on the map because we’ve got a reactor out here. When it’s the only thing you’re known for, there’s really nothing else out here.” He chuckled to himself, but the sound didn’t have that much weight to it. “I, uh…kinda left Mom and Dad without too much of a good-bye, but I have been keeping in touch. I should make sure they’re okay before we keep going.”

“That might not be a good idea.” Kunsel put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I know we ditched our PHSs because we could be tracked through them, _and_ altered our uniforms, but I did see a message go out before we destroyed them. We’ve been marked as KIA – because of AVALANCHE, no less. Apparently, they’re covering up the town being destroyed by Hojo’s experiments as an attack from that terrorist group.”

“What?!” Tifa yelped. “But – but that’s not what happened!”

“We know that, and they know that.” Zangan’s eyes narrowed. “But they do not want the rest of the world to know that.”

“It is…how things have been done,” Sephiroth said carefully. He eyed the town ahead of them, with its reactor sitting a fair distance away from the rest of the buildings. “Shinra is not that eager to reveal its faults so readily to the rest of the world.”

“Yeah. Like the fact that we didn’t do what Hojo wanted, I bet.” Zack motioned with a gloved hand back the way they’d come, all the way back to Nibelheim. They were the only thing he’d kept from his SOLDIER uniform, other than the boots and his sword harness. Otherwise, he wore a plain T-shirt and jeans that were handling the wear and tear of travel well enough so far. “If they’re saying we got killed by AVALANCHE, they’re gonna be saying the same thing about the townsfolk too.”

Tifa gasped. “No…but that’s—”

“It’s something you have to get used to, when dealing with Shinra.” Kunsel shrugged. “I’m sorry, Tifa. At least it didn’t look like we were being hunted as runaway science experiments.”

“I would recommend we avoid visiting your parents, Zack,” Sephiroth said evenly. “As much as you want to see them, we cannot afford to endanger them. If they are aware you are still alive and on the run from Shinra, if Shinra becomes aware that they know—”

“Yeah, yeah, I can feel your train of thought, you don’t need to say it.” Zack waved him off with a frown. His own thoughts were going back to Genesis, Angeal, and Banora, and the bombed-out husk that had no doubt been left behind. He didn’t want to see that happen to Gongaga, too.

Sephiroth frowned as well. “We are still close despite the separation. We will have to be careful to think very different thoughts, if we are to remain out of sync.”

“Yeah. Boy, this’ll be a fun exercise.” Zack rubbed the back of his head and looked over at Zangan. “Are you and Cloud holding up okay, old man? We have been on the road for a few weeks at least. Doesn’t help that we’ve been doing it all on foot.”

“We have been sharing the burden of carrying Cloud.” Zangan nodded to Vincent. “I traveled a great deal in my younger years; I am not feeling the strain of travel as much as anyone else might.”

The fact that Zangan was a man with graying hair, and clearly no longer in his prime, was certainly saying something for his strength.

“We do still need to get information, and potentially supplies.” Kunsel tapped the side of his chin. Despite having altered his uniform by getting rid of the shoulder straps and gaining a pair of jeans, he had still kept the helmet. “No one around here knows my face, much less my voice. I can ask around and give a message if you want to.”

Zack perked up at the offer. “You’d do that? Really?”

“You’re going to mope if you don’t get a message to them.” Kunsel grinned. “I’d rather not have you mope all the way to Banora.”

He leaned against the cliff wall and looked out over the town below. “You stay here and make sure no more Touch Mes try to sneak up on us. Or other monsters, for that matter.”

“I-I’ll go with you.” Tifa stepped forward.

“Tifa—”

“I’ve never left Nibelheim before now. If anyone sees me, they’re not going to know who I am, right?” Tifa looked at Zangan with a tilt of her head. “I can do this. I’m just walking into town and asking around for food and supplies. I’ll be fine.”

“If I’m going with her, she will have me for protection,” Kunsel added. “And besides, having more than one of us means we can cover more ground in Gongaga. Tifa can take care of getting supplies, and I’ll ask around for information. I know what I’m looking for far better than Tifa does.”

Zangan frowned at the two of them, adjusting how Cloud was resting against his back. Cloud flopped limply against him in response, eyes half-open, but not responding. He looked between them, expression like that of a hardened warrior.

Zack found himself wondering if he had ever trained the Turks, because the look on his face made him think of the look he’d seen on Tseng’s face.

 _-It is likely he has seen everything the Turks have seen-_ Sephiroth pointed out in reply. _-Not everyone is connected back to the Turks-_

_-When they look like that, though, I still have to wonder-_

“Are you certain that you will be protected well enough with just the two of you?” Zangan asked.

“It’s a small town,” Kunsel replied. “If we see anything, I’ll make sure that we get out before we’re properly spotted.” He rested his hands on either side of his helmet and drummed his fingers against it.

“It would be better if you removed it now than closer to town,” Vincent said. “It is inevitable that we would see you without it, Kunsel.”

Kunsel’s drumming stopped. He sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. Not like I can do much about that, anyway. Not even the helmets are designed to last forever.” He pulled off the helmet and shook his head, then used one hand to move the rest of his hair away from his face before handing the helmet off to Zack. “Make sure that doesn’t get dinged while I’m gone, all right? I don’t want everyone from here to Wutai to know what I _actually_ look like.”

“Y-yeah, sure.” Zack’s eyes weren’t on Kunsel’s helmet as he took it. “Uh…is that why I’ve _never_ seen you without your helmet before now?”

“That, and I _actually_ followed the rules about uniform regulations,” Kunsel replied. “The only reason you got a pass and didn’t have to wear one for every single mission was that Angeal gave you permission. That, and it would be impossible to keep up your hairstyle when you had hat hair instead.” He ran his hands through his own hair, as though to prove his point. A frown crossed his face. “When we get where we’re going, I’m going to see about setting up a basic shower. Walking around with this much natural grease in my hair is uncomfortable.”

Zack snorted and ran a hand over his own hair. It was far less spiky than it had been, since it had been slowly growing out, but the spikes were still present. It made him look like a younger, more rough-and-tumble version of Angeal. “Yeah, I know what you mean. I could use a haircut that doesn’t involve a giant sword near the back of my neck. Sephiroth’s probably the only one of us who still seems _decent_ in the hair department.”

“That may appear so, Zack, but I can assure you of the opposite,” Sephiroth replied evenly. “It is simply…less visible.”

“I’ll see if I can get something to take care of that while we’re in town,” Tifa offered. “I’m…probably gonna need more gil than I have on me, though. How much do you think we’ll need?”

Zack started to reach for whatever remained of his wallet, but Vincent held up his clawed hand and revealed a small sack of something from somewhere on his person.

“This should more than suffice.” Vincent handed the bag over; the sound of coins clinking together came from inside it.

Zack’s jaw dropped. “Where did you _get_ that much?”

“I am not known.” Vincent inclined his head. “Killing monsters for the farms we pass by seems an adequate exchange for staying in their stables without them knowing about the rest of you.”

“…huh. So _that’s_ what you’ve been doing.”

“You have your funds now,” Zangan said. “Go on, then. We are going to need as much time as you can get now to get the supplies and information you want for us.”

Tifa nodded. “Y-yeah.”

“We should be back in a few hours,” Kunsel said. “We’ll come back quickly if we see or hear anything dangerous in Gongaga.”

“Wait.” Zack held up a hand. “When you go down…my mom’s probably in the market by now. If you run into her, could…could you tell her that I’m okay?”

“If I know what she looks like,” Kunsel replied.

“She’s the only one in town with purple eyes; you’ll know her when you see her.”

“Purple?” Kunsel blinked. “Is that the color your eyes were before the mako?”

Zack frowned and rubbed the back of his head. “I…think so? It’s been a while since I thought about that.”

A smile crossed Kunsel’s face. “Huh. All right, I’ll tell her. You stay safe up here while we’re gone.”

“Oh, that’ll be _easy.”_

Kunsel snorted at Zack’s response, then turned and started down the path towards the collection of buildings in the distance. Tifa followed after him, carrying the sack of gil that Vincent had handed over.

“It’s been months since we left Nibelheim; why do we need to keep everyone out of town if we need supplies?” Tifa moved over the rocky terrain with ease. It was almost like climbing Mt. Nibel, but the slope wasn’t as steep and the climate was _much_ warmer than she would have preferred.

“Sephiroth would get us too much attention,” Kunsel replied. “ _And_ Zack has been labeled killed in action by Shinra. If that information has reached Gongaga, then Zack showing up in the middle of town would get us a lot more attention than we want right now. If Shinra knows that we are still alive, they are going to be sending people after us.”

Tifa frowned. “And…that’s a bad thing, because I’m _from_ Nibelheim, and I saw what happened. Right?”

“Right. Your truth would contradict the lies that Shinra is putting out there to cover their mistake, and they would want to silence you quickly, by any means necessary. The same would go for your teacher.”

“Master Zangan can handle himself.”

“In a hand-to-hand fight, but what about if he’s being chased by an entire army of Shinra troops armed with guns?”

Tifa almost stumbled. “They’d do that?”

“Zack and Sephiroth were the two most powerful people SOLDIER had. I wouldn’t be surprised if they sent _two_ armies after us, if they found out they were still alive.”

“Then…we have to make sure they don’t. Right?”

“That is the thought, yes. Glad to know you came to that conclusion, too.” Kunsel eyed the town as they came close to the outskirts. “It’s the reason why we’ve been staying out of towns for as much as we have. Sephiroth alone would get us too much attention, because he is someone that everyone would know on sight. But no one knows you, and no one _definitely_ knows me.”

“Because of the helmet.”

“Right.”

The town of Gongaga felt a little bigger than Nibelheim, in Tifa’s mind. It was likely because they were in the middle of a jungle they had just fought tooth and nail through, rather than climbing a steep mountain. A large number of stalls had been set up around the center of town, near what looked like the only shop that had an actual building.

“Looks like we came here on a good day.” Kunsel nodded to a woman with a shopping basket as she walked past. “All right. You go ahead and get what we’re going to need in terms of supplies. I’ll start asking around.”

“Is there anything I should be asking about, too?”

Kunsel blinked at the question, then frowned. “Just don’t tell them who else is outside of town, or anything else that could potentially put the townsfolk in danger just by knowing about it. A lot of what we know could be dangerous, or could _become_ dangerous, if Shinra is aware that we are still alive when we shouldn’t be.”

“How are we going to know that?” Tifa frowned, worried.

“We don’t. So we should try to keep as much secret as possible, before they find out what it is that has been moving around under their noses the whole time.”

Tifa’s frown deepened, but she nodded. “All right. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Kunsel nodded. “Good. I’ll leave you to the supplies, then. Meet back here in a couple hours.”

Kunsel turned and walked away before Tifa could give an answer, almost disappearing into the crowd of people that were milling around the center of town.

Tifa breathed in, adjusted her grip on Vincent’s sack of gil, and walked into the crowd and towards the shop that had an actual building. The general store should have what they needed in terms of basic supplies.

The general store was small, but that was something Tifa was used to. Nibelheim’s wasn’t exactly big, so seeing a store of a similar size felt right, somehow.

“Good afternoon!” greeted the dark-haired man behind the counter. “I haven’t seen you around here before, young lady. You an out-of-towner?”

“Y-yes, sir.” Tifa nodded. “I’m stopping to get supplies and continue east.”

“East? You thinkin’ of hopping across the archipelago? Or Going north to Midgar?” The man gave Tifa a curious look. “Not much out east other than those places.”

It took Tifa a moment to think of which place was closer to the remains of Banora. “Mideel, I think. I’ve never been to Midgar, but I dunno how I’d handle a city that big very well.”

“Ah, another back country kid with a lick of sense to her!” The man nodded in approval. “So, what do ya need? You think you’ve got enough to pay for the ferry across the islands?”

“If we don’t, I’ve got a friend who can kill monsters for people,” Tifa replied. She hefted the bag, as though that was proof enough.

The man’s eyes widened, and he whistled. “Not bad! All right, so what do you and your monster-hunting friend need?”

\----

Kunsel knew he was being followed the instant he blended into the crowd and started looking around at the stalls positioned outside the brick-and-mortar store. Fresh fruits, vegetables, and meat helped make it look like he was eyeing the goods as he watched the figure in the black suit approach the stall he was in front of.

“That’s a very interesting outfit you have on,” he told the figure in the suit. “You don’t see people dressed like that out here. Aren’t you hot in that thing?”

“I’m pretty adapted to the climate out here, even if my appearance says otherwise.” The dark-haired young man inclined his head at Kunsel while picking up a piece of some local fruit and inspected it. “I know a quiet place nearby we can talk at.”

“How do you know you’re talking to the right person?” Kunsel pulled a few gil out of his pocket and spun the coins between his fingers of one hand as he considered his options.

“No one else has a shirt colored that distinct shade of purple outside of Shinra.” A hand rested against his bare shoulder for a moment, but it moved away quickly. “So?”

Kunsel knew he’d been reckless then, but he wasn’t about to try to get away from this particular person. “All right.”

He handed the woman at the stall a few gil and took what looked like an apple before following the man in the suit away from the stalls and behind one of the nearby houses to what looked like a junk heap, closer to the reactor. The fact that the man knew about this spot was more than enough of an indicator for Kunsel.

“You’re from around here, aren’t you, Balto.” Kunsel nodded to the dark-haired man as he leaned against a large iron rod. “Were you on leave?”

“I was.” Balto shrugged one shoulder. “Still am, technically. It’s just that I’ve spotted an opportunity that I’m not about to ignore.” His eyes narrowed slightly. “You’re Kunsel, right? You’re the only Second unaccounted for in the last few months who I could imagine being out this far west.”

“So, Shinra knows I’m not dead.”

“The _Turks_ know you’re not dead, Rumor. I don’t know if I can say the same thing for Shinra, but we didn’t tell Hojo that you had survived the incident in Nibelheim. The troopers who burned in the fire weren’t listed as having been brought along, so convincing him that they were you and Zack and that Sephiroth had been pushed into the reactor was easy enough when they were burned beyond recognition.”

Kunsel’s eyebrows shot to his hairline. “I’m assuming I owe you for that.”

“Not after the files that were handed directly over to the Turks.” Balto’s eyes narrowed. “Veld feels more in your debt now than ever.”

Kunsel didn’t wince at the look from Balto. He’d dealt with far worse glares from arguably far worse people. “What’s the situation, then? Have they found someone to replace Zack and Sephiroth yet?”

“They have some candidates lined up, but not many. Heidegger is pushing for more experimental procedures, and Hojo’s been looking into them, as well as some personal project of his own in the remains of Nibelheim.”

“In Nibelheim?” Kunsel frowned. “The mansion…”

Kunsel eyed Balto as the Turk’s expression turned from something serious to something that looked more like interest. His own eyes narrowed in response.

“You know what we found down there,” Kunsel said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Hojo is cooking up something new, especially considering what he _has_ up there.”

Kunsel didn’t think he needed to specify what. The look on Balto’s face said enough about that.

“I know they’ve labeled us KIA, but nothing other than that,” Kunsel said. “We ditched our PHSs as soon as we could.”

“Smart. There were tracking devices they could have used if they wanted to.”

“If they knew we were alive.” Kunsel nodded. “What about AVALANCHE?”

Balto winced. “They would be less of a problem if we had you working with us. We can’t keep track of them very well without someone working on the inside of SOLDIER. Heidegger isn’t giving us any information to work with, and even worse, the terrorists are always one step ahead of us. And now Veld knows that his daughter has been used by Hojo, and she’s _leading_ AVALANCHE.”

“Oh.” Kunsel winced. “I wish I could help, but Shinra would no doubt want to put a target on my head if they knew I was still alive. We’ve been dealing with stalkers already; we don’t need anyone else following after us.”

“Else?” Balto frowned. “What do you mean?”

Kunsel blinked. That was telling. “Genesis copies have been following us from Rocket Town. You haven’t been following the sightings?”

“Hollander’s been working with AVALANCHE, and we haven’t seen Lazard since he disappeared from Midgar,” Balto replied. “The fact that there are Genesis copies still around is surprising. I’ll have to ask Veld if he knows about this.”

“Do it. Zack only said that Genesis fell off a platform and vanished. He didn’t say that Genesis died in the same way that Angeal did.”

“You mean….” Balto trailed off as Kunsel nodded. “All right. We’ll look into that. Do they look any different?”

“Just degrading.” Kunsel shook his head. “We haven’t seen Genesis himself yet, but I get the feeling that it’s only a matter of time.”

“I’ll contact Veld when I’m on duty again.”

“And that will be?”

“Fifteen minutes after you leave town.” Balto nodded back to the outdoor market. “Give you a little head start, in case they think that you, Zack, and Sephiroth are still alive.”

Kunsel blinked, then grinned slowly. “Think we’re even yet.”

Balto snorted. “Not by a long shot, Rumor. Get going; clock’s ticking.”

Kunsel nodded back, then turned and ran back to the open market.

He found Tifa looking over the open stalls of the market, grabbing fruits and meats and putting them in the bags under her arms that were already fit to bursting with whatever else she’d managed to get her hands on.

“You look like you could use a hand.” Kunsel slipped his arm around the bag Tifa was about to grab from the woman at the fruit stall.

“Oh! Kunsel!” Tifa almost jumped, startled. “When did you—”

“I’ve just been around.” Kunsel offered a half-smile. “Sorry I wasn’t around to give you any help. I was a bit busy myself.”

“Well, at least you’re here now to offer your lady friend some help,” the woman at the stall remarked. Her purple eyes went over the two of them, almost appraising them. “Let me guess…siblings?”

“Just friends,” Kunsel replied. He paused. Purple eyes…. “Mrs. Fair, right?”

The woman blinked in surprise. “I…yes, that’s right. You know me, but I can’t say that I know you, young man.”

Kunsel leaned over the stall. “We both know someone who knows the two of us. Have you heard anything from your son recently, ma’am?”

The woman’s expression shifted. “You – how do you…you knew my son?”

“ _Know_ your son,” Kunsel corrected quietly. “Zack is still alive, ma’am. Don’t let anyone from Shinra tell you otherwise.”

“How—”

“Something happened in Nibelheim, and Shinra doesn’t want _anyone_ to know about it. Zack was involved. They covered it up, and covered him up, too. But he’s still alive, no matter what they think.”

Mrs. Fair stared at him with wide eyes. “Are you…how can I be sure you’re telling me the truth?”

“I’m not one to lie about friends, Mrs. Fair,” Kunsel replied. “Especially someone like Zack.”

Mrs. Fair breathed in shakily. Her hands shook. “Oh, Goddess….”

“You can’t tell anyone about this, except Zack’s father. _No one else can know_. If they did, Shinra would want to come after you to keep you quiet – permanently. And then they’ll try to come after Zack and the rest of us. Know that he’s still alive.”

“Can I see him?”

“He wishes he could, and I wish I could let you, but…” Kunsel shook his head. “It could be too dangerous.”

Mrs. Fair breathed in shakily again, then exhaled and frowned at Kunsel and Tifa with a pair of sharp eyes. “Keep him safe for me. Make sure that he can come back to me alive, all right?”

Before Kunsel could say anything else, another bag of fruit was thrust into his arms.

“You _will_ come back when it’s safe to,” Mrs. Fair said, insistent.

“We will,” Kunsel promised.

Mrs. Fair nodded back. “Good. Now get going. You don’t want to leave him alone for long.”

“Right.” Kunsel offered a quick smile, then nodded to Tifa. “We good to go?”

“We have everything I could get my hands on,” Tifa promised.

“All right. Let’s go meet up with the others.” Kunsel nodded to Mrs. Fair. “Thank you again, ma’am.”

“The only thanks I need is seeing my son alive again, when it’s safe,” she replied.

Kunsel smiled, then motioned for Tifa to follow him as he walked out of the marketplace and back towards the edge of town.

Zack was going to want to know that Mrs. Fair was looking forward to seeing him again, whenever they decided to leave their intended destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time jumps can be kinda fun, sometimes. It was about this point in the writing process that I was thinking I needed to get to the end of the tale sooner rather than later, so apologies if I don't cover every inch of their travel from Nibelheim to Banora's remains.
> 
> Also, I think I had a pretty good allusion to what some people say is Zack's eye color.


	38. One-Winged Messenger

_“Get back!”_

Kunsel’s head jerked at the sound of Zack’s voice. He paused halfway up the slope leading to where they’d left Zack and the others behind. “Sounds like we’ve got trouble.” He started to pick up the pace, adjusting his grip on the bags he was carrying.

Tifa did the same. “Are they running into monsters up there? But they left us alone after we entered the canyon.”

“Which means that it’s the Genesis copies again.” Kunsel’s expression twisted as his strides lengthened. Tifa wasn’t able to quite match his pace now and was starting to fall behind. “Stay close behind me. I don’t think Cloud waking up and seeing you hurt after an attack would be a good idea.”

“I can handle myself!”

“Not with your arms full of supplies.” Kunsel moved the bags to one arm and grabbed his short sword with his free hand. They were getting closer to their chosen hiding place.

“My feet aren’t carrying anything more than they usually do.”

“When you can fight and keep everything in your arms from spilling in all directions, maybe I’ll ask you for help killing monsters during our next supply run.”

Kunsel glanced at his bracer; yes, his Cure was still there, as well as Fire. He got the feeling he was going to need them.

They reached the outcropping of rock as the clang of swords went off, and Kunsel saw what it was that Zack was defending against.

“Really, now, is this how you greet someone you haven’t seen in several months?” Former First Genesis Rhapsados raised a white eyebrow as he looked over their crossed swords at Zack. “As we are ‘beasts that bring about the world’s end,’ I was hoping to speak to you as such. Beast to beast.”

“Shut up!” Zack shot back. “We’re _not_ monsters! We never asked for this, and I sure as hell am _not_ going to do what Jenova wants! And I’m _not_ going to go looking for Hollander to try and make clones of me, either!”

“Hollander’s still with AVALANCHE,” Kunsel called as he approached, sword at the ready. Tifa remained behind him and didn’t move too close; good, she wasn’t prepared to take on a SOLDIER with Genesis’ strength, even if he was slowly falling apart from the inside. “It sounds like only the Turks and Genesis know we’re still alive, which is good for us – for now.”

“Good.” Sephiroth nodded from where he was standing between Zangan and Cloud, and Zack and Genesis. “That means we are still capable of moving freely, if required.”

Genesis turned his head to look at Kunsel, giving him a better look at the former First’s degrading condition. On top of his hair losing its bright red color, Genesis was extremely pale, and there were visible cracks forming on his skin. If he had looked degraded before, when he had been actively fighting Shinra with Hollander and Angeal, he looked like he was made of _paper_ now, about ready to crumble at a moment’s notice.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Genesis replied. “As good as you are at hiding your tracks, you are not good _enough._ If what copies I have control over could find you, then I have no doubt that Shinra could do a _much_ better job of finding you, with better-trained soldiers who know how to be monsters, rather than merely act like them.”

Genesis pulled his sword away and stepped back, and Kunsel finally saw where Vincent was, standing behind Genesis like a red and black shadow. “So, tell me – what do beasts such as yourselves seek, wandering around the countryside like this? You have left Nibelheim a burned stage for Hojo to dance upon as he so chooses. You have left Shinra scrabbling among what remains to fill the void _you_ left behind. Hollander works for the terrorists, and Lazard may as _well_ be, considering he has left Shinra behind and worked with Hollander in the past.”

“How do you know this?” Vincent frowned. “You abandoned Shinra.”

“I have eyes everywhere.” Genesis inclined his head with a sly smirk that pulled at the cracks on his face. The smirk dropped a moment later. “Hollander still thinks to put a little of me in everything he makes. I would rather he did not; it stretches me thin as it is, especially when I have found ‘the gift of the goddess’ for myself.”

Zack groaned. “Seriously?”

“You had better not be thinking terrible thoughts of my favorite poem, you foolish puppy.” Genesis frowned. “Although, you are more of a wolf than a puppy now, aren’t you? Spending time with Sephiroth has made you grow some proper fangs and claws.”

“Watching Hojo’s experiments kill an entire village can do that,” Zack replied shortly. “What do you want?”

“You are going this way for a reason, are you not?” Genesis inclined his head. “I can only assume that you are intending to find a place to rest and recover, if not for yourselves, then for your little friend.” He motioned with his sword towards Cloud, still dead to the world. “I know what an affliction from mako looks like when I see one.”

“Why are you offering to help _now?”_ Sephiroth’s eyes were narrow. Zack’s expression mimicked his, and Kunsel found himself wondering if the two of them were going to end up syncing again. “You abandoned me just as much as you abandoned Shinra, Genesis. What reason do we have to trust you, after everything you have done?”

“Because you are _clearly_ intending to go somewhere that Shinra won’t be able to find you, and there is someone there who wants to talk to you.” Genesis twirled his rapier dramatically in one hand, but didn’t make a move to attack any of them. He sheathed his weapon and motioned to them with open arms. “You once asked me before if I would be willing to come with you and research Jenova, Zack. Do you remember?”

It took Zack a few seconds to come up with an answer. “In Modeoheim, yeah. Right before you jumped off a cliff and vanished.”

“Well, I had some research to do of my own, and I have found someone with a…most _interesting_ proposition for you. I was just as surprised as you no doubt _will_ be when I found out, but—”

“Who is this person that wants to meet us?” Sephiroth’s eyes narrowed. “Are they from Shinra?”

Genesis scoffed. “No, never! If she ever found herself associated with Shinra, she could cut _that_ thought off at its source! No, this person has no love for Shinra, and I appreciate the clarity she has been giving me.”

Zack’s and Sephiroth’s eyes widened sharply, and Kunsel saw their eyes turn teal just before they started speaking. **“She? If you speak of Jenova—”**

“Zack already warned me that Jenova was not the one I sought a cure for, and this particular source confirmed it.” Genesis waved them off. “No, no, this source is far better than anything from another world that came to destroy our own.”

**“Then who is she?”**

Genesis raised an eyebrow. “Does that mean you are willing to follow me to Banora? To meet with the goddess herself?”

Genesis’ question was met with stares from Kunsel and the others. The former SOLDIER didn’t seem to mind them, and simply stood expectantly with his hands on his hips, eyeing each of them with an appraising expression.

“If you say no, know that you would have met her anyway if you had traveled to Banora without my presence,” Genesis said lightly. “She would have drawn you to her, whether or not you would have been aware of it.”

Zack and Sephiroth bristled. **“We would have blocked her.”**

“Oh?” Genesis’ expression hardened. “You would keep the goddess of this world away from your mind? And what of the calamity?”

“They were driving her off the entire time we were in Nibelhiem,” Kunsel replied. He didn’t flinch as Genesis’ attention turned to him, but Tifa squeaked behind him at the sight of Genesis’ colorless, but still seeing eyes. “If they can drive off something that is connected to them because of Hojo’s genetic experiments, they could drive off something that isn’t so visibly connected to them.”

“An interesting proposition.” Genesis tilted his head. “But I find that thought to be rather difficult. Jenova was looking to control the two of them. Minerva simply wishes to _talk._ ”

 **“And what makes you think we will listen?”** Zack and Sephiroth asked. Cloud twitched in time with them, slurring the words in time with them.

“I don’t.” Genesis shrugged. “But you have to admit, you do not have many options for stage directions at this point in time. You can continue to live on the run for the rest of your lives, running from Shinra and from others who might know you at a moment’s notice, or you can travel to Banora with or without me and meet with Minerva. Whatever you decide, I will be waiting for you in the caverns below Banora for your decision.”

Genesis’ black wing unfurled, and he took off with a shower of black, graying feathers as he vanished into the sky and flew east. Toward Banora.

Kunsel followed his flight path for a long moment, then looked to the others. “Well, it seems we have a few things to talk about.”

Zack frowned up at where Genesis had disappeared to as Sephiroth turned his attention to Kunsel. **“That we do. What did you find?”**

“I told Mrs. Fair you were still alive, Zack. She was relieved to hear it and wants to see you when it’s safe to come back.” Kunsel watched the two of them for a reaction, but other than Zack turning to look at him, there wasn’t even the smallest change in their eye color. So that wasn’t going to be enough to knock them out of sync. “I also ran into Balto while I was there.”

**“Balto?”**

“A Turk.” Kunsel glanced to Vincent. “Pretty sure he went by Katana when he was still in training.”

Vincent raised an eyebrow.

**“You—”**

Kunsel raised a hand as Zack and Sephiroth bristled. “He said he was off duty; my best guess is that he lives around here. He told me that AVALANCHE is still causing trouble, and that they don’t know what Heidegger is up to involving SOLDIER. Apparently, he’s taken over after Lazard abandoned his post. Hollander is working with AVALANCHE, but on what, he didn’t say, and I didn’t ask.” Kunsel lowered his hand. “We also have about ten minutes to get out of the area before he calls Veld and asks about the Genesis clones we’ve been running into between Rocket Town and Gongaga. I didn’t realize that Genesis was using them to track us for a reason.”

Zangan huffed and picked Cloud up off the ground, positioning the comatose trooper on his back again. “Well, then we shall have to find a place in the jungle to set up camp and discuss matters further. Zack, do you know of any good places you might have used in your youth?”

Zack nodded. **“Yeah. This way.”** He motioned for the others to follow at set off, Sephiroth right behind him.

“Do you know when they’re going to…” Tifa trailed off behind Kunsel.

“I don’t.” Kunsel shook his head. “The fact that they were able to split when we got here was a surprise. At this point…it’s hard to say if they’re going to be able to separate again for long.”

Kunsel didn’t need to look at Tifa to know she was looking at Cloud worriedly. Who knew just how much the combination of mako poisoning and this mental connection was affecting Cloud’s mind.

\----

Zack’s camping spot was hidden deep in the jungle near a nest of Touch Mes, of all things. Some of the frog-things seemed to recognize him and decided to leave him – and, by extension, everyone else – well enough alone.

Zangan put Cloud down with his back against a tree and set to work raising a tent while Kunsel retrieved his helmet from Zack and settled it back on his head.

Vincent sat on the ground next to Cloud. “Genesis has complicated your decision to travel further east.”

 **“No shit,”** Zack and Sephiroth muttered. Zack sounded the louder of the two for that moment. **“He left us behind and didn’t even think about asking for help in getting answers about his degradation _without_ going to Hollander. He’s the reason why Angeal left us, too, and now he’s claiming that he’s met the _Goddess?_ This feels too much like something out of that play he likes.”**

Their voices shifted back and forth as they spoke – sometimes Sephiroth was louder, other times Zack. The only thing that didn’t change was that they still spoke in unison.

“And he is now _in_ Banora, and has given an ultimatum.” Vincent closed his eyes, frowning.

“We need to come to a decision as to where we can settle down without being accidentally spotted,” Kunsel said. “If it comes to light from anyone _not_ of the Turks that we’re still alive, then we’re going to have Shinra’s armies coming down on all our heads to wipe us out. I’d rather not have that happen.”

“Then, what do we do?” Tifa looked to the others, worried. “We can’t go back to Nibelheim, and anywhere else has someone who knows one of us on sight.”

There was no need to say who; of everyone there, only the SOLDIERs could have ended up on posters of Shinra propaganda, and only one of them in particular.

“We can carry Cloud on to Mideel, but that would mean explaining the two of you,” Zangan said. “Banora was your destination originally because it was destroyed by Shinra, and you doubted they would look for you there, correct?”

Zack’s and Sephiroth’s expressions twisted at the reminder.

“We will have to continue moving further east now, unless you want to back track and risk being caught again in order to go _north.”_ Zangan raised an eyebrow. “So, what is your decision? Do you intend to continue to wander, or do you want to continue to Banora, come what may?”

Zack and Sephiroth frowned, then exchanged looks.

“Tifa, Zangan, and I can at least move into a city undetected, so long as my face is covered around people who might recognize me,” Kunsel said. “Vincent has been considered dead for a long time by Shinra, and considering what he looks like right _now,_ I doubt that they would have an easy time recognizing him.”

“I would like to continue with Sephiroth.” Vincent gave Sephiroth a pointed look.

Sephiroth met the Turk’s gaze, but said nothing. Neither did Zack.

“Which only leaves the rest of us wondering what the three of you are going to end up doing.” Kunsel nodded to Cloud as he watched Zack and Sephiroth. “I know you’re deliberating in there – there’s no way you’re _not._ Not with what Genesis just threw in front of us.”

Their expressions darkened. **“We have been… _discussing_ what could be done. As…uneasy as we are about the idea of confronting Genesis, Banora is the last place that Shinra would look for us. As we hadn’t known that Genesis was still alive, it is likely we would have run into him regardless of whether we were aware of him or not.”**

Sephiroth sighed, while Zack huffed. **“Basically, that means we have no choice but to keep going to Banora. We would appreciate it if the rest of you came with us for at least that; you do not have to stay afterwards.”** They paused. **“If you do leave, could you at least tell Aerith that we’re still all right, no matter what she is told?”**

“Aerith?” Tifa repeated, confused.

“I’ll handle that,” Kunsel replied. “Where do I—”

 **“The Sector Five slums, in Midgar. She spends a great deal of time in the church there.”** They paused. **“If the Turks moved her elsewhere, that information won’t be of much help.”**

“It’ll be a start.” Kunsel nodded to the tent Zangan had finished putting up. “Let’s settle in and prepare for the next leg. Something tells me things aren’t going to get any easier, despite Genesis showing up like that.”

**“Oh, believe us, we _expect_ it to get harder.”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> National Novel Writing Month is starting to nip at my heels, here...1 more week of original fiction prep and then I'll be buried in writing for a month. Not gonna stop me from posting, though!
> 
> Gotta wonder what Minerva has planned if she's been sending Genesis to nip at Zack and Sephiroth's heels, though...hm. Well, I know, but you guys don't yet! :3


	39. En Route to Banora

The next day, Zack and Sephiroth got up at dawn and made sure that everyone else was prepared for the next part of their journey.

**“With any luck, we should be able to get out of the jungles and be ready to start island hopping by nightfall.”**

“If we keep going at a SOLDIER’s pace, sure,” Kunsel replied. He crawled out of his sleeping bag and out of the tent. “Vincent can keep up with us, but we still have Tifa and Zangan to think about. Especially since Cloud is still physically incapable of doing anything.” He climbed to his feet and frowned. “Are you…hearing anything from him?”

They frowned at the question. **“He is here, but he isn’t awake. Not fully. He feels like he does not have enough awareness to participate in any conversation, much less move on his own. He is…nothing more than a haze on the edge of our minds.”**

“I hope he doesn’t stay that way for long. Mako poisoning can do strange things to a person, especially when they’re exposed to something like what you have going on. If he wakes up, he won’t be like what Tifa remembers him to be.”

**“We know.”**

It was hard not to think about, with them thinking in sync as they were. They could still feel themselves as separate beings – as Zack, and Sephiroth, and Cloud, however much of a presence he had now. It was thinking separately that was another matter.

Tifa came out of the tent next, followed by Zangan, who pulled Cloud out before starting to dismantle the tent.

Vincent stepped out of the trees around the clearing they’d chosen to sleep in for the night. “Katana has informed them of the Genesis copies. We should be prepared to move soon; Shinra is intent on investigating the area for them.”

They nodded back to Vincent. **“We’ll watch for them as we move on.”**

Vincent nodded in response, then faded back into the shadows as Zangan raided the supplies they had bought from Gongaga’s market for something resembling breakfast. Fruits were quickly passed around and eaten, and Tifa mashed one into paste before feeding it to Cloud.

Zangan finished packing the tent away, then gathered the supplies. Tifa and Kunsel took the packs on their backs and Zangan took Cloud on his, and they were ready to move out.

Zack and Sephiroth motioned for the others to follow them. **“Follow us. We know this jungle well.”**

“You mean Zack does.” Kunsel fell in step behind Zangan and Tifa as they walked out of the clearing. “Sephiroth has never been in the Gongangan jungles as far as I’m aware.”

**“True. But we can’t separate in order to let one of us take the lead. We tried.”**

All it had brought on was a terrible headache, and a feeling of _something_ wanting to be let in from a direction faintly northeast.

It hadn’t felt right, so they had blocked it off and hoped they could find another way to separate. Another shock from someone they were traveling with, perhaps.

“Ouch.” They didn’t need to look back to know that Kunsel was wincing. He didn’t know everything that had happened, but he knew enough, and that was enough for them.

“So…does that mean you and Cloud are…” Tifa trailed off.

Cloud hadn’t been making much noise in the last few days, but they could still feel him in the haze.

**“Unfortunately.”**

“…ly…” Cloud muttered hazily.

“Do you think that this Minerva that Genesis was talking about could bring you apart?” Tifa sounded almost hopeful. “She can do things like that, right?”

Zangan huffed. “I wouldn’t trust a word from that madman. Not when he looks like a walking ghost himself.”

They huffed. **“We know why he’s falling apart. It’s the same monster that destroyed the Ancients, and mentally attacked us in Nibelheim. If it attempts to do such a thing near Banora or what Genesis calls his ‘goddess,’ either he has led us into a trap, or the being will block Jenova’s attempts.”**

“And you can fight her off, if it’s Jenova.” Kunsel sounded like he was nodding. “And you’ll have us at your back to help.”

Zack smirked back at Kunsel, and Sephiroth gave a knowing nod. **“Yeah. It’s good to know you’ve got our backs.”**

“I intend to _keep_ having your backs until Hojo’s given what he deserves,” Kunsel replied with a grin. “Or until you’re able to protect each other by going in and out of that state you’re stuck in. That’s just cruel and unusual punishment, to leave Sephiroth dealing with Zack’s prattling at all hours.”

 **“Hm. Perhaps.”** Zack’s and Sephiroth’s expressions shifted, Zack looking more annoyed as Sephiroth looked more amused, but the separation in personality didn’t last for long, and they settled back into identical serious expressions as they kept leading the group through the jungles.

A pair of frogs hopped out of the underbrush, then lunged at the group with front paws outstretched. They were promptly met with the Buster sword and the Masamune cutting them in two, sending the halves falling to the jungle floor with a squelch. They were quickly left behind as they dissolved into the lifestream.

“It’s so hot down here.” Tifa huffed. “How can you stand to live in this heat?”

“Something tells me it’s an acquired taste,” Kunsel remarked.

“Indeed.” Zangan nodded. “The people who live in Gongaga are used to this kind of weather far more than they are used to Nibelheim, and vice versa for you. If you decided to stop and have a family here, your descendants would be far more used to the jungle’s climate than the mountain’s. That is simply how we humans are.”

Tifa frowned. “I _definitely_ don’t want to live in a place where I’m sweating as much as I am. It’s gross.”

“Depending on our options once we reach Banora, this may be your best option.” Zangan’s expression was a serious frown. “I would suggest that you keep that in mind, young lady.”

Tifa frowned, not looking at all happy at the idea that she could end up living in a humid jungle.

Kunsel chuckled behind them. “I could arrange for travel to the Icicle Inn on the northern continent, if you wanted. It’s plenty cold up there, although you would end up living in a resort town rather than a quiet place out in the middle of nowhere. You could end up getting a lot of attention that you might not want.”

“…that might be better,” Tifa remarked. “It’d be closer to home, at least.”

“Except that a resort town might not be the wisest decision,” Zangan remarked. “And we do have other options, I assume?”

“You do,” Kunsel agreed. Another Touch Me tried to come at him from behind, but his sword lashed out cut it in two, just like the ones that Zack and Sephiroth had driven off earlier. “We’ve still got a ways to go to get to Banora, though. It’s situated on one of the islands to the east of here, and south of Midgar. We’re going to need a ferry to get to the island the town used to be on, otherwise we’re all going to need to go for a swim.”

Tifa looked startled. “Swimming?”

\----

It took them another few days to reach the end of the jungle and the coast.

A small dock with a ferry sat not far from a lighthouse on a nearby cliff, and the old man manning the boat didn’t ask for much to get them to the island that Banora used to be on.

“Not many people asking to go there,” the man remarked as he turned the boat and moved them around a rocky outcropping of pointed stones in the water. The water seemed especially shallow here. “Not since the whole town blew up. I heard someone there was doin’ somethin’ real terrible, an’ they blew up the town when the normal folks there tried ta fight back. You folks had any relatives out that way? Or did ya just want ta have a look at what remained?”

“We’re just having a look around,” Kunsel replied. “We didn’t have any relatives living in the area.”

Zack and Sephiroth nodded in agreement, hiding under cloaks to keep their appearances from being recognized so easily. They were also planning on keeping themselves quiet, rather than spook the man with speaking in unison.

“Well, be careful when you get out there. I heard that there’s nothin’ left of Banora other than a bunch of holes in the ground. Ya could lose yer footin’ in a place like that.”

“Mountain climbing experience is going to make it easier,” Tifa remarked. Zangan nodded in agreement. “I know what kinds of cliffs to stay away from.”

“A mountain climber?” The ferryman whistled. “Ya don’t see many people like that this far south! Any reason why ya decided to come down this way?”

“U-uh—”

“We’re taking a tour of the world to give her some experience outside of the world she grew up in,” Zangan spoke up. He had Cloud next to him under a blanket, pretending that Cloud was simply asleep and tired from the journey. It was better than explaining he was mako poisoned. “As her teacher, I would like her to have a mind that has been exposed to the world beyond her home. Teaching her the ways of the world will improve the skills that she has.”

“Ah.” The ferryman nodded knowingly. “Good, good. Well, make sure you stay safe there. Banora isn’t the safe apple orchard that it used to be.”

“We will.” Zangan nodded.

Kunsel glanced at Vincent, who was sitting in the shadows at the back of the small boat. Somehow, he was able to make himself not the focus of the ferryman’s attention, which was probably for the better for the former Turk.

Everyone else was doing well with keeping the ferryman’s attention anyway, Kunsel and Zangan more than Tifa, Cloud, Zack, and Sephiroth, so Vincent didn’t need to melt from the shadows and participate in the conversation.

“Is there anything else that you’ve heard about?” Kunsel asked. “Banora can’t be the only thing that there is to talk about on the way _to_ Banora.”

The ferryman laughed. “Well, I _have_ learned a few things over the last few months, but I assume that the lot of you have been havin’ your ears to the ground about that terrorist group givin’ Shinra so much trouble lately.”

“We haven’t seen a newspaper in a while.” Kunsel rubbed the back of his head. “And…we haven’t exactly been looking to _get_ information on them, either.”

“Traveling and seeing the world around us does not offer for much opportunity to stop and listen to the people in town,” Zangan said evenly. “What is it that you have heard?”

Vincent shifted in the shadows, inclining his head. He was certainly curious about what could be said as well.

“Well, sounds like you all need ta get in touch with the rest of the world, if ya wanna know about what’s goin’ on in it! I swear, you folks have got the right idea about staying out of earshot of the news. There’s far too much violence comin’ outta Midgar nowadays.” The ferryman sighed and shook his head. “That terrorist group has been givin’ the people there a real bad time.”

Kunsel frowned and tapped his chin in thought. “I…guess they would be, yeah.” The thought of what Genesis had said, about Hollander still using his genetic material to make more clones for AVALANCHE worried him. “You don’t have any family in Midgar, do you?”

“Me? Nah, everybody’s from Mideel. I just run the ferry in my retirement.” The ferryman laughed. “You people should go to Mideel after you are done looking around Banora. Nothing is better than the spas they have out there for old or young bones.”

“We’ll keep that in mind,” Zangan replied. “It might be a good place to go for a break from traveling through the world before we continue our travels.”

“Good! I’ll wait at the dock for ya when we get ta Banora, then! I’ll take ya straight on ta Mideel when you’re done, and you won’t even have to wait for me to swing around again. Hee hee!” He grinned widely. “The best thing about this retirement job is I can keep my own hours!”

Kunsel chuckled. “That’s got to be the best kind of job, especially when you like it so much.”

“Well, of course! I’ve been livin’ for a long time, and gettin’ ta meet new people makes my job that much more exciting. I know not everybody wants ta tell me everythin’, but you’ve gotta have some good stories you can tell me, right?”

“Stories?” Kunsel tilted his head and frowned. “Hm…”

“I’ve got one,” Tifa offered. “It’s about Cloud, and this one time he told me he could take down a Nibel wolf all by himself….”

\----

The ferryman was cackling as they came up to an old dock sticking out from one of the larger islands. “You have kept me greatly entertained! I really appreciate that.” He grinned and nodded to Tifa. “You make sure that boy knows he doesn’t have to be so reckless for ya when he wakes up, all right? Killing monsters is all well and good, but you’re no good to your sweetheart if you’re dead.”

“R-right.” Tifa nodded, then glanced at Cloud as Zangan pulled him onto his back. “I’ll make sure he knows that.”

“Good.” The ferryman nodded, then looked at Kunsel. “And make sure that you keep your two friends safe, too. I know you didn’t talk about ‘em, but you’ve been lookin’ at ‘em a lot. It’s easy ta see you care about ‘em. So watch their backs. Banora may not be a town anymore, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t monsters spending time wanderin’ around what’s left.”

“We’ll keep that in mind,” Kunsel promised with a nod. “How far is Banora from here?”

“Not far. Jus’ look for the green glow on the horizon an’ you’ll get there.” The ferryman pointed to a point on the horizon. “I’ll wait here for ya as long as I can, but if ya don’t come back before evenin’, I’ll head back ta Mideel an’ be back here in the mornin’.”

“That is fair.” Zangan nodded. “Safe travels, if we do not come back until morning.”

“And the same to you.” The ferryman nodded back. He motioned for them to get off his boat. “Now, off with you. I’m sure you want to get there as quickly as possible.”

Zangan huffed in amusement. “That we do.” He stepped off the boat and onto the dock. Tifa, Kunsel, and the others followed after him.

“I hope your shadow isn’t going to cause you any trouble!” the ferryman called after them. “Between you an’ me, I don’t trust things that lurk in the shadows too much.”

“We trust this one,” Kunsel called back as Vincent almost merged with the cloaks Zack and Sephiroth were wearing. “Don’t worry about him.”

“…huh.” The ferryman frowned, doubtful of what the former SOLDIER was saying, but he didn’t argue with him. The look on his face suggested he was more than willing to _actually_ argue, but he wasn’t planning on it.

Kunsel stepped off the dock and looked back as he and the others reached solid ground. He could see the ferryman, still at the helm, but then the old man disappeared into the cabin below the deck of the ship.

Kunsel didn’t stick around to watch the boat; he turned and caught up with the others instead. “Zack, Sephiroth – do you know your way around Banora?”

 **“We are aware of what the town used to look like,”** they replied. **“But other than the man’s directions, we don’t know where it sits on this island, much less the current state of its remains. The fact that he mentioned a green glow is….”** They trailed off, and Kunsel saw them tilt their heads. **“…strange and suspicious. We will have to be careful as we get closer.”**

“I will scout ahead.” Vincent stepped away from them and quickened his stride, moving ahead of the rest of the group.

What kind of monsters live around here, do you think?” Tifa asked. “They aren’t as dangerous as the monsters in Nibelheim, are they?”

“They might not be the same _kind_ of dangerous as the monsters in Nibelheim, but they can still be dangerous when given the opportunity,” Kunsel replied.

“Agreed.” Zangan nodded. “While the creatures here are not used to the cold, that does not mean they cannot be deadly.”

“I wonder what kind of monsters Cloud fought.” Tifa’s gaze moved to her comatose friend. “You guys had to fight all kinds of monsters when working for Shinra, right?”

**“We did.”**

“Monster extermination missions happened a lot in Midgar,” Kunsel remarked. “Some monsters liked living in certain parts of the city, and others were scattered all over the place. I don’t know how much of that is going to be changed by whatever might be going on there now, but I don’t think the Hedgehog Pies are going to be leaving Sector 5 anytime soon.”

Tifa blinked in confusion. “Hedgehog…Pies?”

Zangan huffed. “I doubt that such monsters live in this area.”

“Probably not. It was bombed out by Shinra. If there are any monsters around here, I doubt they’re going to be willing to leave us alone in return. “

 **“If any monsters do attack us, we will be more than prepared for them.”** Zack and Sephiroth grabbed their swords from under their cloaks. Watching Zack get the Buster sword out from under his made Kunsel wonder if Zack just needed to get rid of the cloak entirely at this point.

“It still feels so hot out here….” Tifa made a face and adjusted the pack on her back. “Kunsel, how can you stand walking around with a piece of metal on your head?”

“I’m used to it?” Kunsel shrugged one shoulder, grinning a little. When Tifa huffed back and was about to respond, a flicker of green caught the corner of Kunsel’s eye, and he turned his head slightly.

“How can someone get used to walking around with a cooking pot on their head?” Tifa frowned. A quiet snort of laughter came from one of the others, but Kunsel wasn’t looking to see who the noise was coming from. He did, however, notice Tifa frown at him. “Kunsel? What is it?”

“I think I see what the ferryman was talking about.” Kunsel raised a hand and pointed towards a point on the horizon, much nearer now than it likely had been before. “He said to look for a green glow on the horizon. I’d say that looks like as good a green glow as anything.”

The others stopped and turned in the direction Kunsel was pointing, and caught sight of the green flare that rose up against the clear blue sky, further inland.

“Think it’s another reactor?” Tifa looked between the three SOLDIERs.

 **“We don’t think so.”** Zack and Sephiroth started striding towards it, keeping pace with each other as their eyes narrowed. **“Stay alert! Genesis is no doubt watching us as we speak.”**

Kunsel moved to catch up with Zack and Sephiroth as Zangan moved closer to Tifa, trying to protect her and the unconscious Cloud. “Are you really going to listen to him? After everything that’s happened? I hope to the goddess that the two of you know what you’re doing.”

 **“We haven’t sensed _her_ presence nearby, Kunsel. If that monster _is_ here, either she is not making itself known, or there is something else keeping her busy. There is also the chance that Jenova is not here at all.”** Zack turned his head to look at Kunsel, eyes narrowing. **“We’re being cautious, but we also doubt that Genesis would so willingly join with the monster that attempted to take over us in Nibelheim.”**

Kunsel blinked. “You’re sure?”

**“As certain as we can be, with as much information as we have.”**

“That doesn’t give me a lot of confidence.”

“Nor me,” Zangan agreed. “There are a lot of questions that this Genesis has created that we need the answers for, and even then, I am not inclined to trust a man who is likely falling apart in his mind as much as he is falling apart in body. The two are connected, when it comes to one’s health.”

**“Then we will simply have to be ready, in case Genesis shows his true colors.”**

The group walked past a small group of trees, and Vincent melted from the shadows of one to join with them.

“I’ve finished scouting,” he said. “Genesis is waiting at the mouth of a cavern. If there were any monsters here once, they aren’t nesting in the area anymore.”

Zack and Sephiroth shifted their grips on their swords. **“Is there anything else potentially dangerous here?”**

“No, unless you count Genesis himself.” Vincent’s red gaze moved to Cloud for a moment, then back to the other two. “There’s…something else, here, that I have been sensing. It makes a part of me uneasy.”

**“Is it Jenova?”**

“No. It’s something else.”

Kunsel tilted his head in a frown. “Something else? What kind of something else? You already said there aren’t any monsters, and if it’s not Jenova, then—”

“It is likely what Genesis referred to as ‘the goddess,’” Vincent replied. “It doesn’t feel dangerous currently, but it would be best to proceed with caution.”

**“Do you think you would have sensed its presence, if Genesis hadn’t told us he was waiting for us?”**

“Yes.” Vincent nodded. “We would have had to deal with it, whether or not we were aware of Genesis’ existence here.”

Zack and Sephiroth glanced at each other as Kunsel’s hand moved to his short sword. The green glow was much closer now, and Kunsel was starting to wonder if that was coming from the creature itself, or something else.

Just what kind of damage had been done when Shinra had bombed Banora?

 **“What would you suggest?”** Zack and Sephiroth looked at Vincent. **“We can turn back and find elsewhere on the island to hide, or continue to Mideel.”**

“Something tells me that this being will simply find a way to reach you, wherever you end up.” Vincent frowned, his eyes flickering gold for a moment. “This being wants your attention for a reason. It would be better to hear it out, rather than force it to hunt you across the continents.”

“Really?” Kunsel frowned. “What makes you say that?”

Vincent shifted at the question, then shook his head. “One of the creatures I share this form with is quite insistent on staying away from it, but not letting you stay away from it. I’m not sure why.”

Kunsel’s grip on the sword tightened as Tifa gasped and Zangan’s expression hardened. They’d seen what happened when Vincent reached his limit in a fight – the Genesis copies had never stood much of a chance against a giant wolf-beast that tore them to shreds with teeth and claws – but this was the first time they’d heard of one _speaking._

“Is it the Galian beast?” Kunsel guessed.

Vincent shook his head. “It’s…one that you have not met. And be glad you haven’t.”

“That just makes me more cautious about what we’re running towards, Vincent.”

 **“We’ll see what Genesis has to say on the matter, but we do not intend to stay if this turns into something dangerous,”** Zack and Sephiroth said. **“Let’s keep moving. Standing out in the open like this will only mean that we will be spotted if Shinra happens to have helicopters in the area.”**

“Out of the frying pan and into the fire,” Zangan muttered.

“Let’s hope we’re not,” Kunsel replied. “I’ve had just about enough disasters for one lifetime.”


	40. Banora's Caverns

Banora was a disaster zone.

Kunsel whistled as he looked over the edge of the canyon that had been carved into the center of what had once been a town. “So, that’s where the green glow was coming from. They bombed it all the way down to the Lifestream.”

“The Lifestream?” Tifa peered over the edge herself, curious and frowning. “Is that what all that green stuff is?”

“Yup. It’s what mako is made out of – condensed Lifestream. And then that can be condensed further sometimes into different kinds of materia.” Kunsel tapped the orbs in his bracer. “Mideel is known for having the Lifestream surge up to the surface sometimes, but I didn’t think it could show up in any other parts of the world. Shinra really must have done a number on this place if they were able to bring it up. It’s kind of curious that they haven’t tried to put a reactor down here yet, actually. With all this energy, they’d probably think it’s a good place for it.”

“If they did that, I can only assume that the people in Mideel would argue against it.” Zangan was standing a fair distance back from the edge of the cliff, with Cloud and Vincent. “The people there…some of them believe the old texts, about how the Lifestream is where our souls end up when we pass on. The elders especially are in agreement with some of the things the people in Cosmo Canyon believe on the subject. Which means that these people believe that the reactors are destroying the souls that went into the Lifestream by pulling them out for the sake of their reactors.”

“That’s horrible!” Tifa turned sharply to look back at her teacher. “Shouldn’t that mean that Shinra should be stopped?”

“Only if it is true.” Zangan frowned. “There are a great many things I do not know on the subject, so I would not recommend asking me for information on such matters. That would require traveling back to Cosmo Canyon, since they have that kind of research available to them.”

“You’re making me wish we’d stayed in that area for longer,” Kunsel complained. “I would have loved to look at that research and read through it to get the truth. As it is, we know that Shinra isn’t the most upstanding company, after everything they’ve pulled with Zack and Sephiroth. Them killing the planet by using up the Lifestream would just be one more black mark to their name.”

 **“A black mark that, like the others, we will eventually be unable to ignore.”** Zack and Sephiroth frowned. **“Genesis and Angeal started a great deal of this by leaving. It’d make sense that Genesis would have some hand in continuing this chain of events.”**

“Considering that I have discovered the goddess and, potentially, her gift?”

The group turned sharply as Genesis strode towards them, his wing unfurled and showing as much degradation as the last time they’d seen him.

“If I am to be nothing more than an instigator for events to come, I am more than willing to play that role.” Genesis smiled. “You could say that I have placed myself into the narrative quite well.”

**“Genesis—”**

“The being you said is waiting for us.” Vincent stepped forward, cutting Zack and Sephiroth off. “It is Minerva, isn’t it.”

Genesis raised an eyebrow at the former Turk. “She is as I said she is, yes. But I can understand your doubt – seeing is believing, after all, and after everything else you’ve _seen_ me do, I doubt you would believe me so easily. But! I shall not leave you with infinite mystery as to why the goddess has asked for you, much less what her gift is. Follow me, if you would. And don’t worry about the monsters in the area – whatever clones I had _left_ to me took care of them, and then they dissolved themselves into the Lifestream. We won’t be having any problems with the local wildlife.”

The group exchanged looks as Genesis turned and started towards another green flare a short distance away.

“Can we trust him?” Tifa asked. “I mean…you guys said he was—”

“Something tells me we’re going to _have_ to, whether we like it or not,” Kunsel replied. “We’re in Banora, and Vincent said that being was going to keep looking for us whether we had known it was there or not. If Genesis is going to take us straight there without any trouble, then it’d probably be a good idea to just follow him out there.”

“Yes, it would be a good idea!” Genesis had stopped a short distance away and was looking back at them with a frowning expression. “So, are you going to follow me to Minerva’s caverns or _not?”_

They exchanged looks again.

Zangan huffed and adjusted how Cloud lay across his back. “Nothing for it. Might as well see what all of this is about.” He started after Genesis.

Tifa looked between him and Kunsel. “Do we have that much of a choice?”

“Doesn’t look like it.” Kunsel looked at Zack and Sephiroth. “Might as well, right?”

Zack and Sephiroth huffed, but the noise seemed to come more from Zack. **“Right. At the very least, Genesis can’t handle all of us together, if he decides to try and fight us.”**

Kunsel nodded back, then started after Genesis and Zangan. The others followed, picking up their pace to catch up as they reached the crest of a hill.

“Did you know that, when I was a child, I discovered a cave on my family’s property here?” Genesis asked as they reached a complete ruin of a house. “They never kept much of an eye on me as a boy, and I had a complete run of the property. Rich parents evidently make for neglectful ones, until you prove to them that you are useful to some degree.” He huffed.

 **“And then you killed them,”** Zack and Sephiroth pointed out.

“I did, yes. Because they weren’t _really_ my parents. Looking back on it, it’s clear to me that they only offered themselves as my parents because of the paycheck they received from Shinra for compensation. They only _truly_ became my parents at a much later date. Well, they received _their_ ‘gift of the goddess’ for their trouble.”

“But – that’s awful!” Tifa stared at Genesis with wide eyes. “Why – didn’t they—”

“Not everyone’s family situation is entirely the same,” Kunsel said. “It sounds like you had a loving father, which means that you had the sort of home life that was entirely different from Genesis’.”

“Indeed.” Genesis inclined his head back towards them as he led them around the ruin of the house. “The cave system starts back here. Under ordinary circumstances, I would have left you to find the Goddess’ materia on your own in order to reach her, but I’ve decided to make things easier for you, this time. If you want to come back here of your own accord later, you will have to find the seven pieces of materia on your own.”

“Seems fair,” Kunsel remarked. “So, there is something keeping people from seeing her so easily.”

“Indeed. Not everyone is blessed with attention from the goddess, and if there are any who seek her for the sake of their own greed, well….” Genesis trailed off with a knowing smirk. “They will get nowhere if they do not understand LOVELESS.”

Zack and Sephiroth groaned at once, making Genesis frown at them disapprovingly.

“Now, now, I don’t want to hear any of you complain about my favorite literature. Especially not when you are going to see _why_ it’s so important to the goddess.”

The cave entrance had somehow survived the bombing that Shinra had brought down on Banora, and as the group stepped inside, their attention turning to glowing blue crystals that stuck out from the walls and ceiling.

“That can’t be the _only_ reason you’ve liked it,” Kunsel remarked. “I did read it and watch one of the plays to see what was so interesting about it, but I can’t say that it’s entirely what I was expecting.”

“Oh? And what did you think of it?”

“It’s a nice story, but the missing last act is frustrating and the people who debate over the endings can sometimes be almost non-sensical. The amount of people who have _attempted_ to write a proper ending and failed spectacularly at matching the tone of the original poem is astonishing. And most of them make no sense. I have to say I’m relieved that most people leave publishing theories and guesses at Act 5 to literary professionals.” Kunsel tilted his head. “You could have done well as a literary professor, or a drama teacher.”

“I will take that as a compliment.” Genesis hummed. “Perhaps I could do that still, but my heart has always been with my materia. I doubt that I could be much of a mage if I put all my focus into teaching the next generation the proper way to critically read LOVELESS and watch the play. I have already put years and years into studying it whenever I have not been out on missions or teaching one or two of the more promising cadets. They came with me when I left, you know.”

 **“And were turned into your copies,”** Zack and Sephiroth said with a frown.

Genesis paused as the cave tunnel opened up into a large cavern, with paths leading to other parts of the cave. It looked labyrinth-like to the people from outside of Banora. He looked back at them, and his expression shifted as he looked away again. “Yes. That is right. I did have them turned into copies after I left Shinra with them. They were originally eager to, in order to gain the power I had, but after….” He shook his head. “There is no point in holding on to regret. What’s done is done, and I cannot go back and rewrite the past. I am using my time now to repent, and work towards forgiveness, whatever amount of forgiveness I will be able to find. I don’t expect it to come from _you,_ but I am working my way towards it.”

Genesis gave them a pointed look, then huffed and started forward. “Well, come on, then. We have a cave to traverse and I don’t expect to do it alone, now that you’ve come this far.”

The group exchanged looks, then followed after Genesis.

“What kind of crystals are those supposed to be?” Tifa looked at a particularly large blue crystal as they walked past.

“Mako crystal, but a type that has hardened over time.” Genesis motioned to one as they walked past it. “It will become materia, at some point in the future. Not now, but perhaps in time for your grandchildren to come to this cave and find something useful, if they are still reachable in a hundred years or more. Are you interested in materia, young lady?”

“I haven’t used it before, but I’ve seen it used. I…” Tifa glanced at Kunsel. “I wouldn’t _mind_ learning.”

“Ah! Well, if you wouldn’t mind staying after, I could show you a few things that I know far better than the SOLDIERs you have surrounded yourself with. I can see that Kunsel has a few, but you are going to need to find what works for _you_ , my dear.”

“You are not going to replace me as her teacher,” Zangan muttered. “I would recommend that you do not.”

“Oh, I would never! But there is such a thing as sharing. Angeal and Sephiroth shared Zack, according to what Angeal told me. I would not be against doing the same, but that would, of course, be up to the teacher you already have.”

Zangan looked to Tifa, who looked back with a hopeful expression. He huffed. “I shall consider it.”

“Better than a no, my dear.” Genesis nodded to Tifa.

“Tifa,” Tifa corrected. “My name is Tifa Lockhart.”

“Lockhart? An interesting family name. I should hope your heart does not _remain_ locked to whomever you decide to love.”

**“Hitting on someone younger than you, Genesis?”**

“It can’t be that large of an age gap.”

**“Still too young for you.”**

“Hm. Very well. You should know I’m not flirting with her. There is such a thing as attempting to make a person _comfortable_ in an unfamiliar setting. And there is something about the wordplay of family names and the like that intrigues me. Words can be just as powerful as a sword, after all." Genesis frowned at them. “Angeal _also_ said the two of you had the ability to _not_ speak in unison. Have you given up on that?”

Genesis’ question was met with a pair of narrowed, teal eyes. **“We can’t. We spent too long in sync, fighting off Jenova’s presence. We have tried to pull back from each other, but we weren’t able to get far.”**

“Oh.” Genesis blinked. “I see. Hm. Well, I can’t say that I was expecting this to be the result of that. Is it something that Hojo wanted from the two of you?”

 **“Likely.”** Their expressions turned into a scowl. **“He expressed a great deal of interest in it when he first heard of it.”**

“Well, we’ll have to see if Minerva is capable of making the two of you your own separate people again. But let us actually _reach_ her, first.”

“How much further?” Vincent asked.

“Hm, not as far as you might think. You will know the door when you see it.”

\----

 **“The Goddess materia goes here.”** Zack’s and Sephiroth’s tones were curious and flat respectively as they observed the pedestal in front of the light barrier. The intricate carvings and what looked like the design of a woman on the top of it, carved in around and under the indents in the stone. **“It isn’t used for any sort of attack?”**

Genesis scoffed. “No; _that_ would likely be a Holy materia, and I’ve never seen such a thing.”

“Then how do you know of it?” Kunsel watched Genesis as he pulled seven glowing orbs of materia out of his jacket.

“What sort of mage would I be if I wasn’t aware of it? Holy is considered a fool’s chase; a holy grail, to use a literary term. It is something that people look for as the most powerful of materia, said to be formed from the goddess herself. Divine magic, meant only for people of pure heart to wield.” Genesis finished putting the materia in the slots.

He stepped back as the pedestal glowed, and the light barrier glowed brighter with it. A moment later, the light in the pedestal was gone, and the barrier with it.

“Interesting.” Kunsel tilted his head, and looked at the pedestal more closely. “So, they’re keys. That’s interesting.”

“Many things can act as keys,” Genesis replied with a wave of his hand. “It’s just never clear what sorts of things those keys can unlock. I wouldn’t recommend testing everything you find. You might not like what shows up on the other side.”

“And are the keys this time going to lead us to something terrible?” Zangan asked.

“I should think not, considering it is the goddess herself that we are going to.” Genesis looked to Zack and Sephiroth, and Kunsel followed his gaze. “The two of you should be able to sense it. If there was any _hint_ of that other monster here, she would not last long, now would she?”

Kunsel mouth twisted into a frown at the looks that were passing over Zack’s and Sephiroth’s faces. There was something…distant, about them. It made him wonder if there was anything going on in their minds that could turn dangerous for the rest of them.

 **“…no, Jenova isn’t here,”** they agreed. **“This is…different, from what we felt before.”**

It took Kunsel a moment to realize that the third, fainter voice, which had always been slurred and almost unintelligible, was now sounding clearer.

“Cloud!”

Kunsel turned at Tifa’s yelp and blinked in shock. “He’s…waking up?” He moved over to Zangan as Cloud stirred, pushing back from Zangan’s back and shaking his head a little.

Cloud’s eyes were unfocused, but that was nothing new. It was the fact that he was _moving_ that was _definitely_ new.

“What’s going on?” Tifa looked between Cloud and the others. “Is he—”

“I don’t know.” Kunsel frowned. “Zangan, it might be a good idea to let him down. Let’s see what happens from here.”

Zangan frowned. “The boy hasn’t moved in months. I wouldn’t trust him to move.”

“He was soaked in mako for a time.” Vincent stepped forward. “He is far stronger than anyone in his position would have been otherwise. Let him down, Zangan.”

Zangan frowned, then slowly lowered himself into a crouch and let Cloud slide off his back.

Tifa stepped forward as Cloud righted himself. His stance wavered, then settled as Tifa reached out and grabbed an arm and a shoulder to keep him steady.

The shudder that ran through Cloud as a result of her touch carried over to Zack and Sephiroth. **“T-tifa….”**

Cloud’s voice was hazy, confused, but he was definitely more there than he had been before Banora.

“I’m here, Cloud. I promise.” Tifa squeezed his shoulder.

“Let us go see what Minerva has in mind for them, hm?” Genesis looked around at them, then stepped into the rock-hewn corridor ahead of them. “She isn’t much further from here.”

Kunsel frowned, but before he could say anything, Zack and Sephiroth stepped forward, and Cloud started to stumble after them. Tifa moved along with him, keeping a grip on him and acting as his support.

Vincent and Zangan exchanged looks as Kunsel’s mouth twisted.

“I’m not sure how I feel about this,” Zangan muttered.

“You and me both,” Kunsel replied. “Vincent? What do you think?”

“…we won’t expect anything dangerous here,” Vincent replied carefully. “What Genesis leads us to doesn’t intend to harm us.”

“And if she does?”

“It will be for some form of benefit.” Vincent turned and followed after them, Zangan on his heels.

Kunsel remained standing next to the pedestal for a few seconds longer before following after them. “There’s something we’re not being told about this, and I don’t like _not_ knowing about what we’re walking into. Minerva _is_ the name the goddess, but that doesn’t tell us anything about her motives. If I could know what we could expect….”

“Gods are just as unpredictable as people are, Kunsel,” Zangan called back.

“You are going to have to adapt to not being able to know everything,” Vincent added. He inclined his head. “You would have done well as a Turk.”

“Except they needed someone in SOLDIER,” Kunsel replied. “And I worked out well for that.”

“Hm.” Vincent inclined his head and nodded.

Kunsel turned his gaze away from Vincent and Zangan, and frowned as the tunnel they were walking through started to widen into a new cavern.

Genesis, Zack, Sephiroth, and Cloud were already in the new cavern, with its tall ceiling. It almost looked cathedral-like, especially with the large, strange statue that was standing in the middle of it. It looked like someone’s guess at what the goddess _looked_ like, but Kunsel wasn’t sure—

Kunsel’s helmet bumped against something that felt like hard air, making him stop short and blink in surprise as his train of thought came to a halt. “What?”

“It stopped me, too.” Tifa was standing to the side, her hand up against the invisible wall and a look of worry on her face. “Cloud kept going, but I….” She turned her attention from Kunsel and the others, back to the four who had managed to walk through the unseen wall. “Why can’t we go through? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know.” Kunsel’s expression twisted under his helmet. “I don’t like not knowing. Vincent, what do you—”

Kunsel cut himself off as he turned to see Vincent standing a fair distance back from them. His eyes were strangely wide, uneasy. Kunsel would be hesitant to almost say terrified.

He frowned. “Vincent?”

“I can’t get any closer,” Vincent said. “This presence…”

“Is it dangerous?” Kunsel turned, frowning.

“No. I simply cannot move closer.”

“Is it the beasts in you?” Zangan frowned.

Vincent closed his eyes and inhaled. “Just one.”

Before Kunsel could ask what it was that Vincent meant, the ground suddenly shook underneath his feet. He stumbled and hit the barrier with his shoulder, grunting at the impact. “What’s—”

“Cloud!” Tifa slammed her fists against the barrier of hard air. “Cloud!”

“If this continues, the entire cave is going to collapse!” Zangan cursed something under his breath; Kunsel wasn’t able to pick up on what exactly was said. “We need to get out of here now! Just what is that being thinking?!”

“Maybe that we’re insignificant in the grand scheme of things?” Kunsel tried to steady his balance as the rumbling started to get louder. “If that’s the case, I don’t think I’m too keen on letting her continue to do this!”

Tifa kept pounding against the barrier. “Come on, come on…Cloud! Zack! Sephiroth!”

Kunsel raised his head to look at what Tifa was looking at, and stumbled back. “No…what in—”

Just as Kunsel was about to start swearing himself, the spouting green geyser that had been in the middle of the chamber died abruptly. A view that had once been obscured became clear, and a feeling of dread and alarm settled into Kunsel’s stomach.

Tifa gasped and stumbled back, slamming her hands over her mouth as the color started to drain from her face. “N-no…what just…”

Zangan snarled something in Wutaian. “The hell is that goddess _thinking?”_

“I wish I knew.” Kunsel couldn’t take his eyes off what the geyser had been hiding. “I wish I knew.”

Tifa raised her hands to start pounding against the invisible barrier again, only for her fists to meet empty air. Her momentum carried her forward, and she caught herself before she could hit the ground. All _that_ meant was that she could break into a dead run towards the center of the chamber.

Gone was the statue of the goddess’ likeness. In its place were three glimmering crystals of pure mako, pure lifestream.

And trapped inside each were Zack, Sephiroth, and Cloud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adjusting what was done to them is going to take some time...that, and I had to find some way to work in the x-number-of-years time gap between Crisis Core and VII. This made the most sense.
> 
> Also, Chaos didn't want to get closer because he didn't need to be caught up in that. Nor did he want to be.


	41. Future Intentions

“Cloud! _Cloud!”_

“Tifa, get a hold of yourself!” Zangan grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her away from the mako crystal her friend was entrapped in. “You cannot break that material with your fists, as much as you might like to. You are not strong enough for that – not yet.”

Tifa tried to pull herself out of Zangan’s grip, but he only held onto her shoulders all the more tightly. “We have to get Cloud out of there! He’s going to die trapped like that!”

“This was likely done for a reason.” Vincent stepped up to her side as Kunsel moved around them and approached the mako crystals. “I believe all of us would very much like a _reason_ for this, Genesis.”

“It almost looks like they’ve fallen asleep.” Kunsel walked around the mako crystals, looking over the three who had been trapped inside. Genesis stepped away from Sephiroth’s crystal with an annoyed expression when Kunsel almost bumped into him in the process. “None of them looked shocked or terrified at being encased like this.”

He stopped in front of Zack and looked up at his friend, looking over his closed eyes and somewhat stern expression that had settled over his face. It looked more like what Sephiroth’s neutral expression than something Zack would normally have on his face, and Cloud mimicked that expression as well.

“And….” Kunsel moved to the side and frowned at Zack’s chest. “…it looks like they _are_ still breathing, but it’s hard to tell. The crystal facets make it hard to see clearly.”

Tifa gasped. “They’re – they’re okay? Cloud’s okay?”

“As okay as they can be.” Kunsel walked around the crystals again. “I haven’t heard of anyone being _encased_ in crystal like this before. Falling into mako, sure, but those people either come out enhanced like a SOLDIER or comatose. I wish I had more information on this…maybe we can go to Mideel and get some answers from them, so that we know how to get them out.”

Tifa’s eyes started to widen, filled with hope. “Then – then we can go to the ferry and—”

“That won’t be necessary.” Genesis frowned as the four of them turned to look at him.

“What do you mean?” Zangan frowned. “I assume you know what has happened here, then?”

“Oh, yes. I am very much aware.” Genesis smiled thinly. “Minerva has decided to…bless, these three, with a gift. I wasn’t privy to their conversation, but—”

“What do you mean?” Tifa finally pulled herself out of Zangan’s arms and moved towards Genesis with a frowning expression. “What’s going on?! Why did you put them in this?!”

Genesis raised his hands as Tifa raised her fists, ready to punch him in the face. “I did not—”

Kunsel put an arm between Tifa and Genesis. She turned a sharp glare at him for that, but Kunsel wasn’t fazed.

“Let’s hear him out,” Kunsel said evenly. “And _then_ you can punch him if you don’t like what you hear. His body is degrading; at this point, a stiff breeze could blow him over if he wasn’t careful.”

Tifa frowned at Kunsel, then turned her attention back to Genesis.

“Hey, now.” Genesis frowned. “I am far stronger than some weak grass that cannot grip the ground. I am _very_ capable of holding my own, thank you.”

“You haven’t seen her punch,” Kunsel replied lightly. “I wouldn’t recommend testing a survivor of Nibelheim.”

Genesis’ eyebrows rose. “Indeed?”

“So start explaining, Genesis Rhapsados.” Kunsel removed his arm and folded them across his chest. “Our patience is starting to run thin, especially after this.”

“So it would seem. You people have no sense in dramatics.” Genesis sighed and shook his head. “Very well. But if you are angry, do not be angry at _me._ I am merely the messenger in this instance, not the one who has fired the shot.”

“Talk,” Vincent replied as he and Zangan moved closer. “And we will see what you have to defend yourself with in that regard.”

Genesis’ eyes narrowed at Vincent, and he huffed again. “All right. Since you are not giving me a moment to compose a proper monologue for this, I shall go along with how you people usually like information to be given to you.”

Vincent nodded shortly.

“We don’t have time for a proper monologue,” Kunsel agreed.

“So it would seem,” Genesis muttered. He raised his voice to begin the proper explanation. “Minerva wanted to see them because of what Hojo had done to them, apparently. I don’t know the entire details of _that,_ but I know it gained her attention. It might have something to do with events that happened recently in Nibelheim, but as I wasn’t _present_ for that, I cannot say if that alone was enough to make her consider the three of them.” He nodded to the mako crystals.

“Why did she do this, then, if she was interested in them?” Kunsel motioned to the crystals.

“It has something to do with the monster that Hojo put in them as well as in me, I think. She told _me_ that she wanted to make them into something…different. _Better._ ” Genesis frowned. “She isn’t telling me more, now; it seems that these three have all her attention.”

“Why did she have to encase them?” Zangan asked. “Mako exposure of any kind is deadly to a human, isn’t it?”

“Under normal circumstances.” Genesis inclined his head with a smile that made the cracks in his face try to widen. “SOLDIERs can handle mako so much better than regular people, and when you have a goddess’ attention, you are even _better_ off. And what better way to change a person than by keeping them in something directly connected to the lifestream, where Minerva is at her most powerful? It is truly a gift to be able to have her attention, much less her intent to _improve_ on what has already been done. The monster that was used in forcing the mental connection isn’t going to cause them any trouble after this.”

Tifa frowned as Kunsel inclined his head at Genesis’ words.

“So…you’re saying she’s helping them?” Tifa asked. “So that they won’t get attacked by that thing they were saying attacked them in Nibelhim?”

“I find it hard to believe that she would do something like that without getting something out of this in return,” Kunsel said with a frown. “If she was a _human,_ she would be expecting something, wouldn’t she?”

“That is true, and I believe she has intentions for them as well.” Genesis motioned to the crystals. “What sorts of intensions those are, I am not about to ask. One cannot understand the thoughts of a god, after all.”

“Bullshit!” Tifa’s fists were clenched. “I want to know! I want to know when Cloud is going to wake up! I want to know if he’s going to be himself after all this! I want to know if I’m ever going to get to see him again!”

Kunsel winced at Tifa’s voice broke, and Vincent and Zangan exchanged looks at the sight of her shaking form.

Genesis also looked startled by the display of emotional vulnerability. “I…ah. I see.”

“I should _hope_ that you see,” Tifa snapped. “And I hope that _she_ sees, too!” She pointed at where the statue of the goddess’ likeness had once been. “Because I want answers.”

“You’re not the only one.” Zangan huffed. Vincent nodded silently next to him in agreement.

“Those answers aren’t the kind that I am privy to, I’m afraid. And the goddess has promised me something for this as well, but she has obviously not decided to give me her gift just yet.” Genesis brushed his fading hair out of his face. “The best _I_ can do is wait. And it seems the rest of you are going to have to do the same, until whenever the goddess has finished modifying these three and allows them to awaken from slumber. Whether you decide to wait here with me, or go on your own way, is entirely up to you at this point. I apologize for not being more helpful to a clearly distressed young lady, but that is all I can offer at this point in time.”

Genesis shrugged and shook his head at Tifa, whose arms are still shaking from the force of her emotional outburst. Slowly, her anger began to lessen into something more sorrowful. Her eyes were now threatening to burst with tears.

Tifa blinked rapidly. “Is…is there anything that we can do? Is there anything that _I_ can do?”

“It seems the only thing we can do is wait.” Zangan frowned. “But that is not a situation I am keen on being in. Are you certain they will be safe here? That they won’t be discovered by anything _else?”_

“The goddess protects this place.” Genesis motioned to the cavern they were standing in. “If she did not want you entering this place at all, she would have made sure that was the case at the cave’s entrance. I am certain she will be able to keep Shinra’s lapdogs away from this place.”

“How can we be sure of that?” Tifa asked. “How can _we_ be sure that Cloud is going to be okay?! How can we be sure that _any_ of us are going to be okay?!”

“An excellent point,” Kunsel agreed. At the back of his mind, gears were starting to turn. “And they’re going to want information about the rest of the world whenever they wake up. What better place to get information on the people who caused all this to happen to them than Midgar itself?”

Tifa whirled sharply to stare at Kunsel, wide-eyed. “You don’t—”

“I’m going back to Midgar.” Kunsel looked around at the rest of the group. “We’ve spent the last few months living on the run, killing monsters and Genesis copies that have decided to cause us trouble. Shinra hasn’t thought to come after us _yet,_ but with the trail of monsters that we’ve left behind, they’ll likely be thinking about coming after us soon – to investigate, and then decide whether or not to bring us in or end us. We’re going to need someone on the inside to know what is going on with Shinra, what is getting the most of their attention, and what it is they’re working on that could be deadly to us.” Kunsel paused. “I may have to join with the actual Turks for this, or infiltrate AVALANCHE on top of that. But I’m up to the task.”

“Are you?” Vincent inclined his head at him. “Do you have the training?”

“I have enough.” Kunsel shrugged one shoulder. “And no one outside this room knows what my face looks like. That’s an advantage that I can work with. Are you planning on doing the same thing?”

Vincent looked over at Sephiroth, incased in crystal, then at Genesis, who frowned back at him, then back at Kunsel. “You are going to need more experience than you have. Especially if you are walking into Shinra’s territory. You are going to need to remain alive, if you are going to be of some use.”

Kunsel nodded. “Glad that we’re on the same page.” He turned to look at Zangan and Tifa, who were both staring at the former SOLDIER and Turk with a serious and a confused face respectively. “Which means you can either stay here, or move somewhere else in the continents and live there, out of Shinra’s reach.”

“And leave this as the last I see Cloud?!” Tifa motioned to the crystals. “I don’t want to do that. What if he needs to be saved in the future?” Tifa shook her head. “Cloud made a promise to me when he left Nibelheim. He wanted to join SOLDIER, and promised that he would come back and help me if I ever needed help. He _can’t_ help me right now. So, I have to help him. I’m not going to leave him alone like this.”

“Then I have taught you everything that I can teach you.” Zangan clapped a hand on her shoulder, startling Tifa.

“Master—”

“I haven’t been your master for the last month; you have fought well against the monsters that have tried to startle you, and there are no more moves that I can teach you.” Zangan’s expression shifted to something kind. “You are a strong young woman. Whatever the world decides to throw at you, after all this, you are more than strong enough to handle it.”

Tifa’s eyes widened at Zangan’s words. “…really?”

“Truly.” Zangan turned to look at the others. “It is time that I went traveling in search of new students. If you thought you could make use of me as a member of your little band…I am afraid I must bow out. Shinra’s truths will not last for long in the shadows, that is true, but I do not want to lose my life in any sort of battle you get yourselves in. While these last few months have not been _terrible,_ per say, if Minerva has decided that this Jenova monster the rest of you were warning us about is an issue, I can’t say I’m eager to get involved in anything that results in the burning down of more towns.”

“I get that.” Kunsel nodded in agreement. “You won’t get any complaints from me for stepping out now. You know how to live your own life; we won’t get in your way for that.”

Zangan nodded. “I appreciate that. But if you ever have need of me….” He inclined his head. “Ask the people in Cosmo Canyon. They’ll know how to find me.” He looked back to Tifa. “Stay safe. Trust your instincts. Rely on your friends. You will do very well with that.”

Tifa nodded. “R-right. Yeah. I’ll never forget that. Never.”

“Good.” Zangan grinned and patted Tifa on the shoulder, then turned and walked out of the cavern.

“I’m assuming that you are going to want to stay involved.” Kunsel nodded to Tifa. “Cloud is a friend of yours, and you are going to want to stay involved in whatever he was involved in for as long as possible, just in case he ever wakes up.”

Tifa nodded. “Right.”

“Shinra is the source of all these problems, since Hojo worked for them and they let him run rampant with Jenova. They need to have their corruption removed, I should think. I doubt that Minerva _wouldn’t_ approve of that.” Kunsel looked over at Genesis.

Genesis nodded. “Shinra as a whole has dealt far more harm than good to the planet, so I have been told. Considering that Hollander, one of their own, caused _this_ to happen to me, I would not be surprised if similar monsters run in their ranks.”

“Hojo’s arguably worse than Hollander, since he pulled Zack into that without his permission.” Kunsel’s head tilted down in a frown. “I’ll have to dig far more to see what other sorts of things they’ve done that could potentially lead to worldwide disaster.”

“I am going with you,” Vincent said. “You require more training before I am willing to trust you in gathering information.”

“If you want to come with me to Midgar, I’m not going to stop you.” Kunsel motioned to Vincent with wide arms. “You’re a legendary Turk; you know what you’re doing with that a lot better than I do.”

“I’m coming with you, too.”

Kunsel swung around to look at Tifa in surprise. “You…are you sure? You’re going to be walking into the belly of the beast.”

“I’m sure.” Tifa nodded. “If Cloud wakes up, I think he’s going to want to know what’s been going on. He…” She shook her head. “I don’t know if he knows what happened to Nibelheim. I don’t…I don’t know if I can tell him.” Tifa raised her head to look past Kunsel and look at Vincent. “I want to know _how_ I can tell him. And I want to show him that I’m not going to need him to save me anymore. Not after I had to help save _him._ It’s going to make the promise he made me that much harder for him to fulfill, but he’s not going to always be there for me.”

“Do you know what you are asking?” Vincent’s eyes narrowed. “You are asking to know what it means to be a Turk.”

Tifa nodded. “I can fight. And I want to help.”

Vincent inclined his head, frowning. He scanned Tifa for a long moment before he gave a long, slow nod. “You have conviction. Good. And it is better that you came to _me,_ rather than be snatched up by the Turks as they currently are.” He nodded. “We will go to Midgar. I hope you will be prepared for what you are asking of me.”

Kunsel observed Tifa’s hardened, determined expression, then nodded slowly. “We’ll need a place to stay, when we get there. We’ll go to the slums, keep ourselves hidden. I know enough of the area that we should be able to blend in without too much of a problem.” He nodded to Genesis. “We should set up a line of communications back here, so that we can know when they wake up. Do you have a PHS?”

“Not any longer,” Genesis replied with a shrug. “I can’t say I’ve had a _need_ for it.”

“Might be a good idea to give you one. Let us keep in touch to make sure we all know when they get out of the mako.” Kunsel nodded to the crystals. “Any idea what could happen if they do?”

Genesis shrugged. “Minerva has plans for them. What those plans are, we are not entirely privy to until they are set in motion.”

“Well, we’ll send you one that isn’t _as_ connected to Shinra as most things Shinra-issued are,” Kunsel informed him. “We’re going to need new ones, anyway.” He looked to Vincent. “And you’re going to have to learn how to use one.”

“I will be fine without one,” Vincent replied. “There are other ways of getting into contact with me.”

“…sure.” Kunsel wasn’t entirely sure how Vincent was going to handle that, but he decided to let that settle into the back of his mind for now. “When do we want to head out?”

“I would recommend spending the night in Mideel,” Genesis replied. “A far better place to be than in this dank, damp cavern.”

“But—”

“I will make sure that your friends will be left alone, safe and sound.” Genesis motioned to the mako crystals. “I am supposed to _be_ here, after all. You can expect them to remain whole and well until the time when they are needed.” Genesis hummed. “You don’t want them to walk into a world they are unfamiliar with, do you? Go on, shoo. You have a story of your own to write, and you will not be able to write it here.”

Something about Genesis’ words made Tifa’s expression shift to surprise, then to a small smile. “Yeah. Right. Okay; Kunsel, are you good to go?”

Kunsel nodded. “Standing around waiting won’t get anything done. Let’s move at a Turk’s pace.”

“We are five hours behind, if that’s the case.” Vincent turned and started back to the cave’s entrance. “Your training starts now, Rumor, Sif.”

“Sif?” Tifa repeated, confused.

“Turk tradition says rookies get code names until they graduate.” Kunsel started after Vincent, Tifa following after him. “Normally, they come from the type of weapon the rookie uses, but we’re special cases. Rumor is a name I already had before Nibelheim, because I created and collected rumors that could be useful to know. Or make people run in circles, depending on how vindictive I was feeling about a certain person.” Kunsel frowned. “Sif is a bit more confusing, though. I would’ve thought Vincent would have called you Fists, or Martial Arts, because of your preferred fighting style.”

“Sif is the name of a god that was once a part of the pantheon of the Nibelheim area,” Vincent called back as they backtracked through the cave to its entrance. “While her descriptions do not match with Tifa’s appearance, she is said to be close to the man who controls lightning.” Vincent’s red eyes sparked with gold as he looked back at them. “As your friend’s name is weather-related, it made sense for the connection to be made.”

Tifa’s eyes widened. “What? But – but Sif and Thor are—” She cut herself off as a blush came across her face. “A-are you sure you can’t use a different name?”

“No. I have given you the name Sif. I would suggest that you make use of it.” Vincent started to pick up the pace. “Your training starts now, Sif, Rumor. I expect you to learn quickly.”

“Yes, sir!” Kunsel replied.

A part of him was looking forward to this. First he had been trained as a proper SOLDIER, and now he was getting training to be a proper Turk. If anyone tried to get the jump on him after this, they were going to find some very unexpected results.

\----

Genesis watched and listened as the Turk and his two charges stepped out of the cavern and vanished, then turned and looked at the space where statue of Minerva had stood with adoring, but also concerned eyes.

“I have done as you have asked, o goddess.” He walked into the center of the space, past the three crystalized figures who were now trapped in slumber. “You promised something of me in return – please. If I am to serve you in this life as much as you want _them_ to, I am going to need to live for as long as I was supposed to, not for as long as I have been _cursed_ to.”

The silent cave didn’t answer. Genesis wasn’t expecting it to. It, after all, was only a hunk of carved stone, a place to hold a likeness of a transcendent being.

The _true_ Minerva, of course, was far more beautiful than what a stone statue could replicate.

_“I have not forgotten, my son. You have done well in doing as I have asked. Are you prepared for what this will mean for you in the future?”_

“So long as I am no longer a monster for others to call to their whims, I would be _more_ than delighted with what you set before me.” Genesis bowed low.

There was a gentle sigh on the wind, sad but accepting but delighted all at once. _“I had known you would say that. Rest now, Genesis Rhapsados. You shall receive a gift befitting what you have done.”_

Genesis wasn’t terrified by the explosion of lifestream that overtook him moments later. On the contrary, he accepted it with wide, open arms as he threw back his head, and settled into the warm embrace of the one who had promised to cure him with her gift.

A part of him wondered what Angeal would have done, if he’d been alive long enough to know of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Would've gotten this up earlier, but I had to go and vote! Lucky for me it's a quick walk to get there and back.
> 
> Well, we have plans now for the future! But our story's not quite done yet -- we have 3 more chapters to go through, and not all of them focus on our main characters.
> 
> Also, I couldn't really think of anything better to codename Tifa with than "Sif." Yes, I like seeing those two together, but if Tifa and Cloud get together in this series, I'm not going to make it a huge focus of the plot. I like my romance as a subplot, thanks.


	42. Interlude: AVALANCHE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's give Kunsel and the others a break from our prying eyes for a bit. I'm sure there are things happening in other parts of the world that would keep our interest.

Cissnei quietly cursed her luck as she crawled through the vents.

Of all the times and places that AVALANCHE could strike, they _had_ to strike the _newly built_ reactor in the small, former mining town of all places. At least she had been able to get here before the reactor went up in mako smoke and fire, but she still had to actually _find_ the bomb, along with the AVALANCHE agents who had planted it. Getting into the air vents could only do a Turk so much in terms of infiltration, and that alone was frustrating.

What was even _more_ frustrating was that Cissnei was operating on minimal information. The Turks knew that AVALANCHE agents were _there,_ but where in the reactor they were, and what they were _doing_ there, was something they didn’t know.

Veld had put together a great deal of information on them after Cissnei had brought the file from Nibelheim. AVALANCHE took most of his attention now, if not all.

Cissnei shook the thought of Felicia-Elfe out of her head and reached the end of the vent. The grate at the other side blocked some of her view, but she could make out figures walking around in the room below. Figures dressed in dark greens and browns that would have blended them in well with forests and jungles, but the colors only made them stand out against the dull metal that made up the inside of the reactor.

She breathed out. “There you are.”

Cissnei almost reached out to grab the grate, but a shout from the room below made her pause.

“Hey! _Hey!_ What the hell do you people think you’re doin’?!”

Cissnei groaned. “ _Barret…_ I thought I told you to get _out_ after you got me here. Not run into the thick of it! This was for me to handle, not you!”

The dark-skinned coal miner from Corel was running in, trying to swing his fists at the AVALANCHE grunts who were starting to rush him. It was a good distraction to give Cissnei time to get the grate off the vent covering, but she had to do it quickly. Already, the AVALANCHE members were starting to overpower him, attempting to dogpile the large man in order to keep him in place.

“Get OFF!”

Cissnei stuck her head out the vent and stared as the AVALANCHE grunts scattered, thrown off Barret’s back and sides as he roared in anger.

“You buncha-hey! What’re you doin’ up there?!”

Cissnei wanted to curse even _more_ loudly as Barret’s attention on her brought the rest of AVALANCHE’s stares.

“Shinra!” A grunt started to raise his gun, but he was met with a giant shuriken to the head. He went down with a fountain of blood from his face as Cissnei leapt to the floor. It wasn’t a far drop, for a Turk.

“Barret, I was attempting to _not be seen,”_ Cissnei hissed at him. “Go home! It’s dangerous here! They want to blow up the reactor.”

“No way in _hell_ am I gonna let ‘em do that!” Barret punched an AVALANCHE grunt in the face; he went down with a broken nose, the knife in his hands clattering to the metal floor. “We _need_ this reactor! I’m not about ta let it be destroyed and take our livelihood with it!”

“It’s gonna kill the planet, you idiot!” an AVALANCHE grunt roared back. “We need to remove these blights from the surface, before we kill everything!”

Barret punched him in the face, but he was frowning, more worried and confused than anything else. “What? Why would Shinra do that, if they’re tryin’ ta make everythin’ better?”

His distraction caused one of the AVALANCHE members to catch him by surprise. A few punches to the face later, and Barret was falling back, dazed and flailing as he tried to keep his balance.

Cissnei took advantage of his acting as a distraction, and ran down the corridor in the direction opposite the entrance. If the AVALANCHE members were standing here, clearly guarding the area, she was going to have to go the other way to find where they were placing the bombs. She was not about to let the reactor get blown sky-high.

Shinra had to protect its assets, and while that was the reason Cissnei was here officially, Veld’s reports and the information he had given her suggested that she was here for something else as well.

Elfe had made herself very had to find, much less communicate with in person. The SOLDIERs they _had_ managed to send in after her hadn’t come back in one piece, and most of them hadn’t come back alive. No Turk could get close enough to the trio of leaders to pass on Veld’s message to Elfe, but this time was different.

This time, they were _here,_ and if Cissnei could get Elfe away from Shears and Fuhito, they could get her to Veld and get father and daughter reunited. And, hopefully, cause AVALANCHE to come to a screeching halt without their figurehead. Then Hollander could be picked up and picked apart for his betrayal, and Genesis could be rounded up in the same moment.

Unless he managed to fall to pieces by himself, holed up in some cave or crater as he suffered his last moments in peace.

Cissnei huffed at the thought. Genesis could rot as far as she cared. Hollander was a more pressing problem.

_“…mean, you can’t create more?!”_

Cissnei’s ears pricked. There was a faint voice coming from ahead of her. It sounded like someone was gearing up for an argument.

The mako storage chamber was just ahead. She was coming up on a dead end of a corridor. There was no other place for the AVALANCHE members to be.

_“I mean that I can’t get the genetic material to bind to the test subjects any longer! I need a fresh sample, if I am to be able to keep going with this. We need to find Genesis.”_

That was interesting. That was new information the Turks didn’t have. “Hm.”

 _“What good would finding him do? You said that his genetic material was degrading just as much as the material you already have is.”_ The other voice – the voice that wasn’t Hollander – was thin and reedy. It sounded like Hojo, but not quite. A relative, perhaps? That led Cissnei to suspect Fuhito. He did admire Hojo, after all. _“Capturing a weakening Genesis and using him for genetic material would not be any more useful than making more cultures of what you already have. Find a different way to make the super soldiers you promised us, Hollander. And if you cannot give us the information we need, then I am going to make sure that we get the information from Hojo himself.”_

Cissnei slowed her approach and pressed herself up against the wall. The door leading into the mako storage was open, giving her a good view of the four people who stood inside, as well as the grunts who were doing something on the other side of the room, near the mako pump. This was information that they were going to need, and she was intent on getting as much of it as she could, before she had to interrupt.

Finding a way to sneak in and disarm the bomb during the conversation would _also_ be a good idea.

The oldest of the four – a man with graying hair and a small, deformed black wing sprouting from his back – winced away from the other three. “I-I am doing what I can! But the genetic material I have can only do so much! I am going to need more time before I can give you what you’re asking for.”

A young man with dark hair huffed and adjusted his glasses. “I should hope so. The research that you’ve given me is starting to look more and more useless by the day, Hollander.”

Hollander winced and nodded.

Cissnei frowned and spun her shuriken in one hand, considering her options. The man with the glasses was likely Fuhito, the man next to him with a bandanna on his head matched the description for Shears, and then there was Elfe, standing to one side with her sword resting in its sheath at her side. This close, Cissnei could see that there was some resemblance to Veld in her. Anything that didn’t match her father certainly came from Elfe’s-Felicia’s mother, the only _actual_ casualty from Veld’s family.

“Well, now that _that’s_ been handled.” Fuhito turned to look over at the other two leaders of AVALANCHE. “It seems we have a bird to catch, if we are to continue to make RAVENs. After we take care of _this_ problem, I’m sure you’ll be willing to go and find more…volunteers, Shears?”

The man nodded. “I’m sure I can scrounge up a few we can coerce into joining our cause.” The perpetual frown on his face only deepened. “Is there anything you wanted to do here that needed _all_ of us, Fuhito? This is a recently-built reactor in the middle of nowhere. We don’t need all of us to be here to remove it before it can damage the planet.”

“I simply felt that it was important that all of us were here,” Fuhito replied. “Elfe, can you sense anything with your abilities? Anything that might be useful to us?”

Elfe frowned slightly at the question. Her guarded gaze went over the room. Cissnei pushed herself against the wall of the corridor in order to avoid being seen by the leaders of AVALANCHE. She’d spent enough time watching to know that sneaking into the room was going to be next to impossible. “What do you think is here? The mako is interfering.”

“Hm.” Fuhito frowned. “That is something we’re going to have to work with, aren’t we? Try to sense something beyond the mako. As far as I assume, there is something here that should respond to you.”

Elfe’s frown deepened. “Hm.”

Cissnei frowned, too. What was it they were looking for?

The two AVALANCHE grunts who had been setting up something on the other side of the mako storage. “Sir! The bomb’s been set. We should get out of here, before Shinra troops get here and give us trouble.”

Shears turned sharply and nodded. He frowned at Fuhito. “We are going to have to search for your thing in the rubble of the reactor. I’m not about to wait here when that _thing_ is primed.”

“Shears—”

“No. We’re going.”

Cissnei held her breath and pressed herself tightly against the wall, praying to whatever gods were listening for some protection from mortal sight. Of _all_ the times to abandon hiding in the air vents! She should have—

An explosion of noise cut off her train of thought, and caught the attention of the leaders of AVALANCHE. It came from the path Cissnei had taken in order to reach mako storage, which likely meant something had happened to her exit.

Another thought occurred to her, then. _Damnit, Barret._ _If we get out of this alive I am going to make sure that you learn to **listen** to a Turk when they tell you to do something. _

“What was that?” Shears frowned. “Shinra must be here if they’re causing that much of a—”

Cissnei sighed and shook her head. Either way, her cover was going to be blown. “You could say that, but no.” She stepped out from her hiding place as the group of terrorists stiffened at once.

“Turk!” Hollander exclaimed.

“Scientist,” Cissnei replied coolly. “I can’t say I envy you or your position. You’re falling apart at the seams from _stress,_ aren’t you? Or would you say that Genesis blessed you with a gift from his goddess?”

Knowing that Genesis had been attached to LOVELESS like it was his own baby had been something of a given, considering that Rumor had warned the new recruits not to insult the former First’s love of it. Genesis wasn’t here today, however, and that meant Cissnei could use it against him as much as she wanted to. Misquote it, even. It wouldn’t be that so much as the _reminder_ of Genesis that would get Hollander’s attention.

Hollander’s hands turned into fists as his expression of surprise turned into a grimacing frown. “A gift? A _gift?_ His genetic material has been slowly turning into a _curse!_ And now I can no longer make anything even _remotely_ stable that I can use in my experiments!”

There was the old scientist’s temper.

Cissnei simply smiled and inclined her head at him before she turned her attention to the others present. A frown settled onto her face instead. “Felicia.”

Shears and Fuhito exchanged looks of confusion. Elfe blinked.

“What?” Elfe asked.

“Felicia,” Cissnei repeated. “You don’t recognize your own name? Hm. I wonder if undergoing Hojo’s experiments gave you amnesia as a result.”

A result of the _trauma,_ perhaps. But that was something Cissnei didn’t want to think about. Veld had the files; he was the one who spent his time obsessing over what Hojo had done to his daughter, even though he hardly had the free time for it.

“What is it you’re implying?” Elfe’s words were cold and defensive. She reached for her katana, watching Cissnei’s shuriken like it was going to spring from her hand at any moment.

“Your father thought you were dead,” Cissnei said. “Imagine his shock when he found out that not only were you still alive, but that Professor Hojo experimented on you in the past, and you somehow managed to escape. He doesn’t release his test subjects that willingly, you know.” She pulled a piece of paper from her suit and flicked it at the ground at Elfe’s feet. She kept her stance loose enough that _hopefully_ the AVALANCHE leaders wouldn’t think to shoot her or cut her in two. “I would suggest that you find the time to think about Veld. He’s certainly thinking about you.”

Elfe’s eyes flickered. She didn’t reach down to pick up the paper, but Cissnei could see the sweat start to gather on her brow. Jogging her memory with names and events that had likely happened was definitely producing results they could work with. “My…my father?”

Fuhito hissed something between his teeth. “Don’t believe her lies. She’s a Turk. She and her people constantly use their words to deceive everyone they speak to. I wouldn’t believe them whatsoever.”

“Believe me or not, do as you will, but Veld’s love and concern for his daughter is still true,” Cissnei replied. She spun her shuriken in her hand, almost lazily. “I’ve done what he asked him to, giving you that message. But I have my own mission to finish here, and you are going to leave this reactor _intact._ I would recommend you defuse that bomb and leave this for Corel.”

Shears’ eyes narrowed. “Like we’re going to let you do that, Shinra lapdog.”

Cissnei shrugged. “Your funeral.”

Later, when the reactor went up in flames and a coal miner lost his arm in the chaos, Cissnei would sit back in the helicopter with her injuries and curse herself for not trying harder to convince Elfe-Felicia to come with her back to Shinra.

Convincing her was only going to become more difficult from here.


	43. Interlude: Shinra

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's the last week of chapter updates, folks! Last chapter's going up on Friday, and then I'm going to take a little break to finish my original novel for NaNoWriMo, and get a little farther in Mental Bonds, the sequel, when I have the time and energy to. I'll let you know next chapter when you can start to expect chapters from the sequel!

Reeve Tuesti sighed as he rearranged the stack of papers and put them back in the file. “SOLDIER Roche, this isn’t exactly what I was hoping for when I asked someone to take this on as a mission.”

“I did what you asked,” Roche pointed out. He tossed his mullet over one shoulder as he lounged in the chair Reeve had set up for visitors to his office. “I cleared out the monsters that were hanging around your little construction site, and I made sure they weren’t going to come back.”

“You also angered a great number of civilians with your driving, and caused more property damage than was requested, which was _none_.” Reeve sighed heavily and set the file aside. “And now, not only am I going to continue construction on the plate, I have to _repair_ the buildings that you destroyed in your excessive destruction of the monsters and the nest they had been constructing. Shinra’s image is not going to become any better because of _your_ actions.”

“Pfft. Like the people in the area cared. They probably thought the monsters caused all that damage.” Roche waved off Reeve’s frown.

Reeve’s frown turned more into a scowl. “Tire tracks on the sides of buildings do _not_ come from monsters. They come from crazed maniacs who ride motorcycles into the air to slice _flying_ monsters in two. Flying monsters that do _not_ leave tire tracks on the sides of buildings. They leave scorch marks when they breathe fire.”

Roche huffed, but he didn’t argue with Reeve. Instead he turned his scowling face away from Reeve and looked around at the blueprints that were scattered around the walls, pinned to places they shouldn’t be and taking up as much space as possible. “Do you have anything else for me, then? Another mission?”

 _“No._ Not after the mess you left.” Reeve sighed heavily. “I would have preferred Zack Fair’s work to yours. He was over-eager, but he knew when to apply specific amounts of force to specific areas. His death to AVALANCHE in Nibelheim is terrible.”

Roche glanced back at Reeve. “You knew him?”

“Of course I did. He made a name for himself rising as quickly as he did, and he was quite eager to get to work on our missions as well. He liked being someone people could look up to, if I can recall. A hero.” Reeve sighed. “It didn’t seem to do him any good, in the end.”

“Well, I dunno. Getting blown up in a town full of people you’re trying to save sounds like a pretty heroic way to go for me! If it were me, I’d be _living_ for someone pushing me past the red line like that! Whoever it is that he put himself up against must have been strong.” Roche cackled, but cut himself off at the withering look that Reeve gave him.

“If SOLDIER is going to continue to have recruits like you, I don’t want to have my missions be done _by_ you,” Reeve said evenly. “Monsters can be destroyed, to be sure, but I am not looking forward to the property damage that you will be causing.”

“You are _such_ a spoilsport!” Roche motioned with his arms. “You aren’t going to get any of your work done at this rate.”

“I will simply have to live with that.” Reeve grabbed another file and opened it, looking over its contents. “I think that will be all that I need out of you. If I ever hear you taking another mission of mine, I expect _less_ property damage and no one injured in the crossfire.”

Roche huffed. “You wouldn’t be saying that to—”

“I didn’t _have_ to say it to Zack Fair or Kunsel because they knew what it meant to control the damage they caused.” Reeve frowned over the top of the file in his hands. “They were the heart and _mind_ of SOLDIER, I think. When they and Sephiroth were here, they could keep the lot of you in shape without needing anyone from any other departments to step in. If you want to impress me next time, you are going to have to do _better._ ”

“Hmph.” Roche sneered at Reeve, then stood up and left his office with a swagger in his step.

Reeve didn’t watch him go, but sighed heavily as the door slammed shut behind the SOLDIER. “If my office takes any more stress from those miscreants, I am going to have to pay for reinforced everything.”

He shook his head and opened the file in front of him. “All right, there’s no one else in this room but me. What do you want?”

“Impressive that you noticed we were hanging out in here, yo.” Reno stepped out from behind Reeve’s potted plant.

“Roche couldn’t see you if you turned him around and kissed him full on the mouth; his attention is more on his motorcycle than on the world around him.” Reeve set the file aside. “What do you want this time? I don’t have as much time to talk about rumors and information as anyone else you likely can speak to.”

“Yeah, well, our usual guy went up in smoke and fire in Nibelheim, so we’re gonna have to settle for you, yo.” Reno raised an eyebrow. “Your little robot’s been doin’ what you needed it to, right?”

“How did – of course you knew about him.” Reeve thought about his little project, stored away in this very office, and fought against the thought of what the Turks might want to do with the poor thing. “He’s been functioning as I’ve needed him to, yes, but he’s far from complete. Cait Sith is only a prototype right now, after all.”

“Well, keep working on it. I’m sure that you’ll find you’ll have enough… _extra_ …funds to do something with.” Reno leaned over Reeve’s desk.

Reeve did his best to not look more annoyed as Reno bumped into one of the piles of files. He’d just finished organizing that; he didn’t want to have to go through it all over again.

“Is there anything _else_ that you want?” Reeve asked evenly.

“We want to see if you can make one of those little robots for _our_ use.”

Reeve’s eyes narrowed. “And why would I do that? Cait Sith is a personal project.”

“Made with Shinra supplies on Shinra’s dime,” Reno pointed out. “Come on, man, we just need one. You can do one, right?”

“You haven’t told me _why,_ Reno.”

“Do I hafta?”

Reeve’s eyes narrowed at the Turk. Reno frowned back at him, then rolled his eyes and huffed.

“All right, all right.” Reno rolled his eyes. “Veld wants to use it to get information off the clock, okay? So it’d still be for personal use.”

“What _kind_ of personal use?”

“Boy, you’re being nosy.”

“You want to use an invention of _mine_ under the table. I have to admit, I am very concerned about what your boss is interested in that he would want to do on his own time.”

Reno stared at Reeve, then rolled his eyes and sighed long and loud. “Man! At least Kunsel knew not to ask questions whenever we asked him for information.”

“Kunsel isn’t here,” Reeve replied. “And he didn’t _make_ what you’re asking for, if I recall correctly.”

“What does it matter? All he asked for was help keeping his rumor mills running – which, he set up well enough that they’re running by themselves now, by the way. You could at least do something to help keep them going even more than that.”

“I am not as keen on telling half-truths as some people. That doesn’t mean I _can’t,_ I just simply don’t _like_ it.” Reeve folded his hands on top of his desk. “So. How much are you willing to tell me? I won’t give you access to any one of my prototypes until you tell me what you want to use it for.”

Reno grumbled in annoyance. “All right, all right. _Fine._ ” He adjusted how he was hanging over Reeve’s desk, going from leaning over it to sitting on the edge. At least he wasn’t going to make any of the files spill over and scatter. “So, Veld’s a little suspicious of a few things. We wanted to set up a Cait Sith-bot to watch a couple people.”

“Who?”

“Man, really suspicious, aren’t you?” Reno threw his arms in the air. “It’s not anyone you need to be worried about.”

“If they trace Cait Sith back to me—”

“We’ll make sure it’s not. Disguise the little robot spy as something else or something. You don’t need to be so jumpy about it.”

Reeve stared at Reno, and his expression hardened. “Are you sure—”

“I am sure, yo. Don’t worry about it.” Reno held a hand out. “So, the robot?”

Reeve sank back against his chair. “The current model isn’t ready yet.”

Reno frowned and pulled his hand back. “How soon?”

“Soon. Give me a couple days to…to add some cosmetic changes.” Reeve ran a hand over his face. “If I have to hand it over to you, I am going to make _sure_ that it doesn’t look like my plans for the final product. Far better for me that way if there are fewer ways to link it back to me.”

“Fine, fine. Just bring it down to Veld when you’re done with it, all right? Make sure no one else can see it, and—”

“I know how to hide my creations, Reno. Don’t talk to me like I am nothing more than a child.” Reeve gave Reno a pointed look.

Reno stepped back, holding up his hands. “All right, all right. Just make sure to get it soon, yo.”

Reeve nodded shortly, then watched Reno as he escorted himself out of Reeve’s office. As soon as the Turk was gone, he dropped his head into his hands and sighed heavily. “Shinra is going to fall apart at this rate, isn’t it? I can only hope the civilians aren’t going to get involved in all this….”

\----

“AVALANCHE is moving towards—"

Reno poked his head into Veld’s office. “Yo, boss, Tuesti is gonna get to work on the thing.”

Veld looked up sharply as the shadow that had been talking retreated into the shadows behind the potted plant in the corner. He met Reno’s gaze and raised an eyebrow. “What did I tell you about talking about things like this with an open line to my office?”

Reno ducked his head. “Right. Sorry. Wasn’t thinkin.” He stepped in and closed the door, checking that the window in the door was still covered. “But like I said, Reeve’s gonna make it an’ bring it by. He’s probably gonna ask what you’re gonna want to _use_ one of those little robot things for, but he’ll bring it around.”

Veld held his expression at Reno for a few seconds, then sighed and nodded. The shadow stepped out from behind the house plant at the same time. Reno tried not to watch and think about how Vincent Valentine was amazing for getting that red cloak of his to blend into the dark with him.

“I expect him to ask questions,” Veld said. “Especially considering that we could put one of his creations in the line of sight of someone who he wouldn’t _want_ it to be in.”

“He said somethin’ about not makin’ it look like Cait Sith.” Reno shrugged. “Not sure what he means by that, but that’s gonna be somethin’ ta see when he gets here.”

“I don’t expect him to get here on your heels,” Veld said evenly. “We should have a few days before he decides to bring it to us.”

“Which means what, boss?” Reno moved closer to the desk. Man, Vincent’s eyes really burned into a person. “You plottin’ somethin’?”

“Just considering AVALANCHE’s movements and what they could be plotting next,” Veld replied. “Cissnei was able to get my message to my daughter in Corel, but they were still able to blow up the reactor. Shinra isn’t eager to let the rest of the world know that there is a group of eco-terrorists, so Cissnei's been asked to make sure that there is a sufficient cover-up. I’ve sent Tseng to assist her.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily. “Considering the destruction, Shinra is likely going to blame the town for destroying the newly-built reactor, and are going to attempt a retaliation.”

“Nothing we haven’t seen before,” Reno remarked.

Veld frowned at the map on his desk.

“Boss?”

“Nothing we haven’t seen before, right.” Veld sighed heavily again and lifted his gaze to look at Vincent. “A lot has changed since you were walking among us.”

“Evidently.” Vincent’s voice was a low rumble as his red eyes became rimmed with gold. “Have they reported back from Cosmo Canyon yet?”

“Not yet. I’ve sent Balto out that way to join Rod and Shotgun, but we haven’t heard any reports from them yet. Balto is from the area, as Gongaga is to the southeast, but that is no guarantee that the people will be cooperative.”

“Yeah, they were never too keen on Shinra, were they?” Reno leaned over the desk himself. “So, what now, boss? Tseng isn’t here, and we kinda need some sorta direction out there.”

“I would assume you are still watching the target, and you are still gathering information in the city,” Veld replied evenly.

“Yeah, but it’s gettin’ boring. I don’t like sittin’ on my laurels like this.” Reno bounced back, shifting from one foot to the other.

“I see you are giving me even more reason for Veld to have partnered you with Rude,” Vincent said evenly.

Reno glowered at him.

“Reno.”

Reno’s attention snapped to Veld.

“I want you to check on Kalm,” Veld said. “They may not have a reactor, but we’ve come across some evidence that suggests there are AVALANCHE agents hiding in the cover town. I would not be surprised if they’re using the area to move troops and supplies across the wasteland to Midgar and out in the other direction.”

“Am I goin’ it alone?” Reno perked up.

“No. Take Rude with you. You are going to need him. And check on our charge before you leave.”

Reno frowned, then nodded and stepped out of the office without another word.

Vincent watched him go, then turned his attention to Veld. “You do a good job with your position here.”

“I do what I can.” Veld met his gaze. “I get the feeling I could have done far better with you watching my back, especially in the beginning.”

“Hm.” A flicker of a smile crossed Vincent’s face for a moment, but then the expression dropped. “We have other things to worry about besides this group.”

“I know. I would have AVALANCHE take a back seat to this if they weren’t so actively violent and eager to destroy the reactors with their bare hands themselves, but they need to be stopped before they destroy the people who live in the cities they’re affecting. I will not have Kalm happen again, not when my own daughter is putting herself into the thick of this.” Veld shook his head. “You still sense something terrible in the building?”

Vincent nodded shortly. “I do.”

“But you can’t tell where it is.”

“Not yet, but Shinra reeks of it. It feels the same here as it did in the reactor in Nibelheim.”

“I see….” Veld frowned. “Which could prove to be dangerous.”

“Yes.”

“Then we will use Reeve’s little toy to investigate the building, send it crawling through the air vents in as many places as possible to gather data on the other departments. You have already cleared those below me; I can tell by the way you watch them. Now it’s simply…everyone else.”

“I would like to meet this Reeve.”

“I get the feeling that you will, when he brings his little robot here for me to take and use as I wish.” Veld drummed his fingers against the table. “Vincent, I….there is a great deal I want to ask of you, when this is over.”

“And, as we have discussed, we will discuss them when it _is_ over,” Vincent said evenly. “We have other problems to worry about until then.”

“Right. Ha. To think that we are investigating Shinra for corruption from the inside, when it’s likely been there since the beginning…I wonder what the president would think, if he ever became aware of this.”

“Let us hope he does not.” Vincent’s eyes narrowed. “He is the reason that Hojo is here.”

Veld’s expression hardened. “Right.”

There was another knock to the office door, and Vincent had just enough time to hide behind the house plant again as a blond woman in a rather revealing red dress stepped into the office.

“Director Veld.” The woman looked him up and down as the beasts at the back of Vincent’s mind hissed quietly.

 _That one smells of materia made wrong,_ said one voice that was more vocal and intelligent than the rest.

“Director Scarlet,” Veld replied evenly. “And to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

“I want to make sure that you are staying on task. If AVALANCHE keeps blowing up reactors, I am going to lose research facilities that are _very_ important to me.”

“We are doing what we can.”

Vincent picked up the slight shift in Veld’s tone, but Scarlet didn’t.

“Well, I expect you to do _better,”_ Scarlet snapped. “With monsters like this group giving us the run-around, I am _never_ going to get any work done! So hop to it!” She turned on her heel and started to walk out, then paused and looked back. “I expect as many people guarding the reactor in Junon as possible, Turk. If you can’t manage that—”

“Heidegger knows far better than I how to guard your precious reactor in Junon,” Veld replied coldly. “I would recommend speaking with _him_ on the matter, not I.”

Scarlet blinked, pulling back sharply at Veld’s tone. If he hadn’t been clear before on his feelings concerning her annoyance, it was certainly clear now. “Fine! But I expect you to help him!”

Vincent didn’t wince as the door slammed shut behind her. “I see some things haven’t changed.”

Veld huffed. “And yet they still do. Come, before she comes back again. We still have to discuss what we should do about the data you brought on the man in the drum.”

Vincent nodded, and stepped out from his hiding place and approached the desk again. “We have…a great deal, to discuss about him.”

At the back of his mind, Chaos stirred with a dark chuckle. _Oh, yes. I cannot wait to see what will become of him._


	44. Interlude: Slum Sectors

Aerith walked into the church and quietly breathed in the scent of the flowers that were growing within. In the time she had to herself, the patch of flowers in front of the altar had grown to a good, lush size. It meant that there were more flowers to sell to the people who had more of a need for them than she did – the people who were sad and downtrodden because of how down-on-their-luck they felt, how their lives didn’t always go the way they wanted them to.

Or people who had lost loved ones to war, or disease, or old age.

Aerith’s footsteps slowed slightly as she reached the edge of the flower patch. Lost ones….

She shook her head. “No. They’re not lost. I know exactly where they are. Where _you_ are.”

She lowered herself to her knees and started weeding the garden. Working with her hands like this was a nice distraction from the bustling city life of the slums – and there was life down here, no matter how miserable the rest of the world tried to make it. The church was quiet compared to the sounds of the rest of the world…but at the same time, there was something loud here in that silence. A loudness that only Aerith was able to hear.

Coming here to listen to it, when she knew Zack and Sephiroth were on the edge of it but not quite submerged _in_ it, might have been a good idea to her at the time, but in hindsight, there were some things that she wished she didn’t have to hear from the whispered voices of the planet.

Especially when they didn’t always come through so clearly.

_“The pain of the world, can you feel it? The cries of her children, can you hear it?”_

“I can,” Aerith whispered back. “I can hear you. Right now, anyway. But I’m not ready. I can’t do what you’re asking of me. I’m _not ready.”_

_“So you tell yourself, little Cetra….”_

“Half Cetra,” Aerith corrected. She caught herself almost grabbing the stem of a flower and corrected her hand’s course. She grabbed another one of the weeds and carefully pulled it out from between two flowers. “I can’t hear you this clearly all the time, no matter how hard I strain or how hard you scream. And I can’t do what the Cetra could do, either. I’m not capable of that. I’m not _strong enough_ for that.”

_“Not yet.”_

“No, not yet. But I will be. You just have to stop pushing and give me time.” Aerith tilted her head. “I’ll keep listening, though. But I can’t really do anything else.”

Something hummed under her feet. Aerith wasn’t sure if it was something of the physical world lumbering by outside the church, or if it was the planet itself, humming in thought to her words. There were a lot of things that she was having to learn by herself, with all this. Especially since her birth mother hadn’t been able to pass on as much as she would have liked before she’d passed.

_“Listening is a good beginning. You will soon learn the rest.”_

“I hope so. If things are as I keep hearing, I want to help the people I know and like.” Aerith’s nose wrinkled. “There _are_ people I know that I don’t want to help, but that’s because I don’t like them, and I don’t think I ever will. Mom would forgive me for thinking things like that, wouldn’t she?”

The planet hummed again. Aerith decided to stop pressing it in that direction. Some questions were better left unanswered.

“How long?” Aerith asked quietly. “I didn’t know Zack for long, but…I liked him, when he was here. I would like to see him again. How long will—”

_“Needs preparation. Needs power.”_

The planet’s words were getting more choppy, now, less translatable to Aerith’s half-Cetra mind, and a feeling of dread settled in her stomach in response. She was starting to lose the signal – again.

“What kind?” Aerith whispered.

The planet whispered something back, but it was lost in a jumbled mess of voices. couldn’t translate the sounds, no matter how hard she focused on listening and not on her flowers or the weeding she was supposed to be doing. It left her frustrated, and instead of getting back to her weeding, she pulled away from the patch of flowers and sat on a nearby bench with a huff.

Aerith folded her arms across her chest and leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. The creature that Zack had called “an Angeal copy” was still up there, making a small nest in one corner of the exposed attic. If Aerith tilted her head in a certain direction—

\--there he was, back in his little corner, dragging a blanket there in an attempt to find some properly soft bedding.

Aerith chuckled to herself. She was going to have to figure out how to sew, so that she could put a few pillows up there for him. He would probably like that.

The Turks might see it as a frivolous, idiotic venture for someone to do, considering that the creature was a monster and giving it things to make a nest might only encourage it to stick around, and potentially lead to it attacking Aerith in the future, but she didn’t care. The Angeal-copy-monster was a part of Zack’s mentor, but he was a part of Zack too, somehow. In the same way that Angeal became a part of Zack, at least. When you took people under your wing, you gave them a piece of yourself. Something for them to remember you by as they carried you with them.

“I hope that Zack is remembering me, wherever he is.”

Aerith looked over at her flowers again. They were partially weeded, but not all the way. Not yet. She was going to have to get to work at that, if the flowers were going to continue to thrive.

_“Midgar full of flowers, wallet full of money!”_

Aerith sighed to herself and shook her head. She got off the pew and moved to her flowers again, back on her knees as she took to weeding. The pink dressed she’d picked up was handling the dirt stains rather well, which was a good thing – the pale color could have stained easily at her knees and below, if the fabric was a different kind.

“I’ll make sure that Midgar is full of flowers when you get back,” Aerith said quietly. “And you _are_ going to come back. You’re not gone yet.”

No matter what the Turks said about Zack being missing or killed in action. He wasn’t dead, not yet. Not by a long shot.

He was just…

Aerith frowned and sat back again. What _was_ Zack doing, exactly? The planet wasn’t exactly being clear on that, and it wasn’t exactly like Aerith could _make_ it be more clear. She’d tried, and all she’d gotten for her trouble was a headache and Tseng standing over her when she’d woken up, head crushing some of her flowers.

The flowers had bounced back, of course, but she wished she hadn’t fallen on top of them.

“I know you said that Zack needs power, but you didn’t tell me for what, not clearly, and I don’t know _why.”_ Aerith frowned at her flowers. “Because you’re not telling me, obviously, or you can’t get the words through to me because I’m not used to listening enough to get the words right. I know you know what you’re doing, because you’re the planet and all, but I really, really want to know if you’re going to…I don’t know. Change him? Make him something I won’t recognize by sight if I ever see him again? _When_ I see him, I mean, because I _know_ I’m going to see him. I just don’t know when, and I’m pretty sure I’d have a better idea of when if you could _tell me_ when he is going to be back!”

Of course, the flowers didn’t answer. At this point, Aerith didn’t expect them to. It wasn’t like the flowers knew all the answers, and the planet certainly wasn’t planning on giving them right now, either. Which was rather frustrating for Aerith, since it was the only thing that _could_ give her the answers she was looking for right now.

“You tell me less than the Turks do,” Aerith muttered under her breath. “And _that_ is saying something.”

Of course, the flowers didn’t say anything. Aerith got the feeling that they weren’t going to be saying anything anytime soon.

She sighed again and shook her head, and got back to weeding. “I just want to know that he’s okay. That he’s safe. That he’s going to come back. I want him to come back. I want to be able to see him again.”

The flowers stirred, and when Aerith perked up, they went still. She scowled at them, then went back to weeding.

The church doors creaked open behind her. “Yo, princess! Doin’ all right over there?”

“I was doing fine until you showed up,” Aerith called back. “I don’t need a bodyguard, Reno. Aren’t you guys worried about those people who are going around trying to do things to the reactors?”

“Eh, we’ve got that covered.” Reno was probably waving a hand like he was clearing the air of Aerith’s question. “And we’ve got enough of us left over to keep an eye on you like always. Isn’t that nice, yo?”

“If it’s nice, you would have sent Rude. At least he knows not to bother me when I’m working.” Aerith huffed.

Reno spluttered. “Oh, come – come on! You just say that because he doesn’t say anything!”

“Exactly.”

Aerith smiled to herself as Reno continued to splutter and huff in an annoyed, angry fashion. She knew he wouldn’t mean anything by the threats he was muttering under his breath, but he was lucky that she wasn’t younger -- she might have taken him seriously.

She heard one of the church pews creaked under Reno’s weight as he sat down on one a fair distance away from her. “So. Just the flowers today, huh?”

“If you want to let me play target practice with you so that I can work on my materia more, I’d be more than happy to do that.” Aerith grinned over her shoulder at Reno. “I don’t have just Restore anymore. The Hedgehog Pies are actually leaving me alone because I picked up a Poison recently.”

Reno’s expression shifted. “Uh…no thanks. I’m not looking to be poisoned by anybody for any reason.”

“Even if it’s target practice?” Aerith asked sweetly.

“ _Especially_ if it’s target practice! How’d you get your hands on a Poison materia, anyway?! Those things are dangerous!”

“Well, it’s not exactly like there are other elemental materias that exist in the area. And if they do, they’re less common.” Aerith put a hand to the staff at her back. “I’m hoping to save up for a Fire next, maybe. Poison at least keeps away people if they think they’ve gotten sick with something, and I never let it last for long. That would be just mean, now wouldn’t it?”

“Mean’s one way a’ puttin’ it.” Reno ran a hand down his face. “Just be careful usin’ that, kay? I think this stuff can backfire sometimes if you don’t have a target in mind.”

“Don’t worry, I know. Materia comes to me pretty easily.” Aerith pulled another clump of weeds from her flowers, the amused tilt of a smile on her face.

The smile faded a moment later. “You didn’t show yourself just because you wanted to bother me, did you.”

Reno said nothing as Aerith continued pulling weeds. She didn’t know how to read people the same way she could hear the planet _just_ yet, except for knowing whether or not she could trust someone a little more than others. It was how she knew she could be comfortable around Zack, when they had first met, and how she’d known that Sephiroth was potentially a danger.

Maybe things would be different the next time she saw him. Whether or not that was going to be a good thing or a bad thing, she wasn’t sure yet, but—

“Things are pickin’ up in a bad way out there.”

Reno’s voice shook Aerith out of her thoughts. She tilted her head slightly, but didn’t look at him as she continued weeding.

“We’ve, uh…those AVALANCHE guys haven’t come around since that one time, have they?”

“Not that I’ve noticed.” They hadn’t, not really. Apparently, that one talk she’d had with the apparent leaders of the group had been enough to make them leave her alone.

“Good, good. We got orders to kick you an’ your mom outta town if they start getting too bad around here. You feelin’ okay about goin’ out to Kalm? It’s a small town, not far from Midgar, an’ you’ll get a good view of the sky, too. None of this stuffy steel ceiling.”

Leave Midgar and live somewhere that didn’t have a plate over her head?

“I like the steel sky,” Aerith replied evenly. “I don’t know if I’d be…all right, going somewhere without one.” She bit her lip, thinking about the wide expanse that existed beyond Midgar. “I don’t think I’m ready to live without it yet.”

“Well, you might have to sooner than ya want to.” Reno shifted on the pew. “Not sayin’ it’s gonna be happenin’ _soon,_ but it could. You should be ready for it, just in case.”

“Are you telling Mom that, too?”

Reno snorted. “Duh! We’re not heartless, princess.”

“I’m not a princess.”

“We beg to differ. _Princess.”_

Aerith rolled her eyes and huffed. She knew Reno was grinning, but she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of a glare.

Just breathe, in and out, and get back to weeding.

“Well, I hope that I won’t have to leave,” Aerith said primly. “I like being where I am.”

Reno sighed and shifted again. “You’re not the only one, yo.”

\----

“You really think we can hide here?” Tifa frowned at Kunsel, worried.

Kunsel adjusted the visor of the hat he’d swapped his helmet for, then pushed the sunglasses up his nose. “Pretty sure. No one’s going to think to look for a pair of runaways from a huge incident right under their nose, much less in a bar in the slums. Come on, let’s go in and ask around for work.”

Kunsel motioned for Tifa to follow him as he walked up the steps to the bar’s entrance. The name of the bar was familiar – hadn’t Zack mentioned at one point that he’d gotten a bar named Seventh Heaven in the slums?

Probably best not to think about his missing friend right now.

“What could we _do,_ though?” Tifa asked. “I don’t know anything about bartending.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t learn. And every bar needs people to run the kitchen or bus tables.” Kunsel stopped in front of the door and looked back to Tifa with a reassuring grin. “Come on. Just stick with me, and you’ll be able to handle this, no problem.”

Tifa blinked a couple times. “…okay. I’m still not used to seeing this much of your face, though.”

Kunsel sighed. “It’s something we’ll both have to get used to. I liked that helmet.”

He pushed the door open, and felt lucky; he managed to pick a time of day when the bartender was between rushes.

“Good afternoon, sir!” Kunsel stepped inside. Tifa followed after him, looking around at the bar’s layout and the pictures that hung on the walls. “Are you hiring anyone for this establishment, this afternoon?”

“Hiring?” The bartender – a middle-aged man who was in the middle of cleaning a glass – frowned at the two of them. “Are you looking for a job, kid?”

“We’re asking around town, yeah.” Kunsel shrugged. “We just got to Midgar, and we need a way to earn room and board. Do you have any open positions here?”

The man’s eyes narrowed slightly. Clearly, he wasn’t sure about Kunsel’s words.

“Sir, please.” Tifa stepped forward. “My brother and I are going to need to earn something _somehow.”_

Kunsel kept his surprise at Tifa’s words carefully guarded. _Brother? Either she came up with that on the spot, or it’s something Vincent discussed with her._

“…you really just got here, huh?” The bartender raised an eyebrow. “And you’re not goin’ straight to Shinra.”

“They’re not the reason we’re in Midgar.” Kunsel shrugged. “We’re just looking for a new home, is all. I’m not planning on joining them anytime soon.”

“Same here,” Tifa agreed.

“Hm.” The bartender looked between the two of them. “And you’re certain you want to work here.”

“It’s better than some of our other options.” Tifa looked at Kunsel. “Right?”

“Right.” Kunsel nodded, glad she was catching on. “So, sir? Would you be willing to take us on?”

The man stared at them for a few moments longer, then sighed. “You have a week with a trial run to impress me. You can stay in one of the rooms that I have on the second floor until the end of the week, and afterwards we will discuss payment and what I will expect from you. _If_ you impress me.”

Kunsel watched Tifa’s eyes brighten as his own eyebrows rose slightly. This was surprising. He thought he would have to do more in order to convince the owner.

Well, they weren’t going to look a gift chocobo in the mouth.

“Thank you, sir. We appreciate your generosity.” Kunsel nodded.

“Pheh.” The bartender put the glass down. “Start by showing me how thorough the two of you are with washing the dishes my lazy cook has left in the kitchen. We’ll discuss your potential occupations from there.”

“Sounds reasonable.” Kunsel nodded to Tifa.

Tifa nodded back. “Y-yeah, dishes, I can do. Where’s the—”

The bartender motioned back to the entrance behind the bar. “Go on, then. Get going.”

Tifa rubbed the back of her head, looking rather embarrassed.

Kunsel chuckled. “We won’t let you down, sir.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

The bartender sounded gruff, but Kunsel could tell by the look in his eye that he meant well. Maybe he saw something of himself in the two of them?

Kunsel grinned to himself at the thought as he disappeared into the kitchen behind the bar with Tifa. Working at a bar was going to be a great advantage to them.

Especially since they made for _great_ places to listen to rumor mills, and potentially start a few of his own, once he knew enough.

Yes, Sector 7 was definitely going to be a good place to hide until something in the world decided to move in their favor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it! We have reached the end of this particular tale -- or this portion of it, at least.
> 
> There will be more coming, believe me -- I just have to get around to writing more of it than what I have, first. Currently I have only a handful of chapters ready to post, but I like to make sure that I have at least 8 before I start posting. That means enough to post 1 a week for 2 months.
> 
> Which brings me to when you could expect that next story, Mental Bonds, to pop up here.
> 
> Not gonna lie, NaNoWriMo has all of my attention right now. I'm currently working on an original fic, and pushing myself to write 2K a day, plus my job, has left my arms/wrists exhausted. More than likely, I'm going to take most of December as a break from writing to let my arms recover at least a little, and then I'll get back on it.
> 
> I expect to start posting Mental Bonds in February or March 2021 at the latest. Can't wait to see you then!


End file.
